PA'WI. ■'■'■■■■■ 



V:.'.'i'. 



t£5i|:l:;'£';;t'i'^ 









m^k' 




2AiJ^^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 



OF 



iS^ fl^^ i^r^ ^W^# 1^^ W'll^k ^^"^ # 






OR 






Itltifttt l»tt$f ^ 



IE AND DURING THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE, 
With A SKETCH OF THE FIRST STEAM 
NAVIGATION of FULTON and 
LIVINGSTON. 



BY 



TiiOMAS STREATFEIIB CLAMSON. 



^UfitlSHED FOR, AND tN THE ISaNDS ONLY, OF SUBSCRIBERS. 



CLERMONT, N. Y.; 
1869. 






IH EXCHANGE 

FEB 1 5 1915 



Printed by 
BRYAN & WEBB, 
Hudson, N. Y. 



a 



INTRODUCTION. 

A man having lived the greater portion of his life upon a part 
of the Livingston Manor, and a descendant of that noble old fam- 
ily, may indeed be pardoned if he shows a family pride, and wiites 
about his ancestors, and although living in the vicinity of the 
noble blue Kaatskills,* or Katsbergs, whose dark shadows fall 
over the once romantic haunts of HendricK Hudson, and his crew 
of ghostly Dutchmen, and the more quiet retreat of Rip Van Win- 
kle, when he enjoyed his long nap, out of the reach of Dame Van 
Winkle's tongue ; and other localities of historic lore and legend, 
made immortal by that greatest of all American writers, Irving, 
who thus gives us a lively picture of the crew of the "Half Moon" 
at their favorite game of nine-pins : "Some wore short doublets, 
others jerkins with long knives in their belts, and most of them 
had enormous breeches of similar' style with that of the guides. 
Their visages, too, were pecuUar ; one had a large head, broad 
face and small piggish eyes ; the face of another seemed to consist 
entirely of a nose, and was surmounted by a white sugai'Joaf hat 
set off with a little red cock's tail. They all had beai'ds of various 
shapes and colors. There was one who seemed to be the com- 
mander. He was a stout old gentleman, with a weather-beaten 
countenance, he wore a lace doublet, broad belt, hanger and high- 
crowned hat and feather, and high heeled shoes with roses on 
them ; what seemed particularly odd to Rip was, that though here 
evidently amusing themselves, yet they maintained the gravest 
faces, the most mysterious silence, and were withal the most mel- 

*The origin of the name Catskill is as follows : The Indians called this range of hills 
On-ti-o-ra, signifying Mountains of the Sky. The Dutch called them Kaatsbergs, or Cat 
Mountains, from the number of panthers or wild cats abounding there. The word Cat^' 
kill is partly English and partly Dutch— Kaatskill Dutch, Cats Qreek Englisb, 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

anclioly party of pleasure he had ever witnessed. Nothing inter- 
rupted the stilhiess of the scene but the noise of the balls, which . 
whenever they were rolled echoed along the mountains like rum- 
bling peals of thunder ; and the Dutch inhabitants near the Kats- 
bergs, even to this day, never hear a thunder storm of a summer 
afternoon about the Katsbergs but they say Hendi-icK Hudson and 
his crew are at theu* game of nine-pins." But a man of energy 
may shake oif the dust of centuries, and lethargy, and awake to 
action, when he undertakes to write of his ancestors, particularly 
so when they were great and good, and whose lives have been for 
the greater part given for the national honor and advancement of 
their countiy. For the good that men do live after them. 

When we read the Declaration of Independence we there see 
the name of Livingston ; also, when we read of the introduction 
of the first Steam Navigation upon the Hudson River, we see the 
name of Livingston. The name of Livingston is connected with 
the inauguration of the first President of the United States, is 
attached to the Federal Constitution ; it is honorably associated 
with our Foreign diplomacy, our Domestic politics, and our Judi- 
cial history ; and there has been probably no time in our annals 
when its respectability has not been supported by some conspicu- 
ous member of this illustrious family ; and last but not least, when 
we read of the Christian's life, and death, we can then take exam- 
ples, as foot-i^rints for us to follow, of many that have passed away 
and gone before us to that undiscovered country, many of the 
name of Livingston, who have left records illumined by the light 
of other days, which grow brighter and brighter as years roll on. 
For, as the poet says : 

"Life is real, life is earnest. 

And the grave is not its goal ; 
Dust thou art, to dust retm'uest, 

Was not spoken of the soul. 
Art is long, and time is fleeting, 

And our hearts, though stout and brave, 
Still like mufiied drums ai'e beating 

Funeral marches to the grave. 



INTRODUCTION. V 

Lives of great men all remind us, 

We can make our lives sublime, 
And departing leave behind us 

Footprints on the sands of time ; 
Footprints that perhaps anothei*, 

Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 
A forlorn and shipwi-ecked brother, 

Seeing shall take heart again." 

Both the poet and the novelist have given romantic interest to 
the revolutionary era. My own ambition is to rescue from oblivi- 
on records for the use of the futm*e historian of this State. Like 
the wandering Ai'ab, who whilst passing lays a stone upon his 
father's gi'ave, or cairn, so I bring my contribution in the shape of 
this collection of Livingstones, which I hope may be always 
strongly cemented in our hearts and ajBTections, as well as in the 
arch of our Union. Our great Washington being the key-stone, 
and this grand temple of Liberty having been erected upon so 
sure a foundation, cannot but stand to become the pride of all 
Americans, as well as the admiration of all the nations of the 
earth ; for where freedom and equality reign, tyrants tremble. 

A person writing a book at this period concerning the Livings- 
ton Manor and family of the revolutionary era, and prior to it, 
has to be in a great measure guided by what has been related to 
him as facts, and by depending upon or copying freely from au- 
thors that have written upon this subject. It has been a work of 
pleasure, but not an easy task to gather the information contained 
in the following pages, and I now retm-n thanks and crave pardon 
from the numerous authors for the liberty I have taken, in making 
extracts from their works. I am greatly indebted to the authors 
of the following works : 

"Life of John Jay, by his Son, William Jay." 

"Life of General Montgomery, by Gen'l Armstrong," 

"Life of Robert Fulton, by Renwick." 

"Life of Jay and Hamilton, by Renwick .'• 

"Old New York, by John W. Francis." 

"Queens of American Society, Mrs. EUet." 

"Wgmeif of the Rpyojutioo, Mrs. EUet." 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

"History of "Wonderful InveDtiona," London. 

"Life of "William Livingston, T. Sedgwick." 

"Panorama of the Hudson Kiver, "Wade & Croome." 

"Miller's Guide to the Hudson Eiver." 

"Lossing'8 Book of the Hudson." 

"Lossing's Field Book of the Kevolution." 

"Head ley's "Washington and his Generals." 

"Parton'a Life of Aaron Burr." 

"Lossing's 1776, or "War of Independence." 

"Chambers' Papers for the People." 

"Life of "Washington by Irving." 

"Life of Edward Livingston, by Hunt." 

"Downing's Eural Essays." i 

"Campbell's Border "Warfare of Now York." 

"JefTrrson's Papers, 1834." 

"Knapp's American Biography, 1833." 

"Journal of N. Y. Convention of 1776-7." 

"Life of Gouveneur Morris." 

"Kobertson's History of Scotland." 

"Aikman's Buchanan." 

"Chalmers's History." 

"Mrs. Jameson's Celebrated Female Sovereigns." 

"The Livingston Family Eecord," 

Also my thanks are due to Mr. Cleksiont Livingston, of the 
old Manor House, for the use of the old library, in "which I found 
many works of value. 

I have not dwelt long on the history of political parties, or the 
politics of the period of which I have written, but have confined 
myself to stating facts. As politics, however great the interest it 
may have for men, drags rather hea"vdly upon the female reader, if 
given in more than homoeopathic doses, in a work of this charac- 
ter, I have endeavored to keep up as much as possible the general 
interest. Since the good old times have passed away of which I 
have herein chronicled, another rovolution or civil war has con- 
vulsed our country, compared to which the battles of the revolu- 
tion were mere skirmishes, and although all the old Heroes and 
Patriots of '76 have been laid in their last resting place, others 
following in their footsteps joined hand in hand in the ranks of 
the Union, and utterly routed both rebels and their sympathisers, 
the Tories of this last war. But thanks be to God, that he gave 
us the gi'eat inamprtal Lincoln, ow second Washiis[gton, to Btancl 



INTRODUCTION. VII 

firmly at the helm, and to steer the Ship of State out of the trou- 
bled waters of civil war unto more placid ones, even unto the 
Haven of Peace. And let evei-y true American pray "That the 
Lord our God be with us as He was with our Fathers; let Him 
not leave us nor forsake us ;" and in the words of our sainted Lin- 
coln Say: "We here highly resolve that these honoured dead 
shall not have died in vain; that the nation Shall under God have 
a new birth of Freedom, and that the goVemment of the people, 
by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.' 

Chiddingbtonk, N. Ti, «J"uue lot, 18694 



TO THE HUDSON. 



"I dream of thee : fairest of fairy streams, 

Sweet Hudson. Float we on thy Summer breast. 
Who views thy enchanted windings, ever deems 

Thy banks of mortal shores the loveliest. 
Hail to thy shelving slojjes, with verdure dressed. 

Bright break thy waves the varied beach upon, 
Soft rise thy hills, by amorous clouds caressed. 

Clear flow thy waters, laughing in the sun. 

Would thro' such peaceful scenes my life might gently run. 

And lo ! the Catskills print the distant sky, 

And o'er their airy tops the faint clouds driven, 

So softly blending that the cheated eye 

Forgets or which is Earth or which is Heaven. 

Sometimes like thunder clouds they shade the even, 
'Till as you nearer draw, each wooded height 

Puts off the azure hues by distance given, 
And slowly break upon the enamored sight, 
Ravine, crag, field and wood, in colorfs true and bright." 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEB. page- 
To the Hudson, 9 

The Livingston Family in Scotland, 1 H 

" " in Scotland and America, Concluded, - • • 2 17 

Judge Robert E. Livingston, 3 25 

Livingston Manor, 4 39 

Birth and Youth of R. R. Livingston, (Chancellor,) • - - - 5 48 

From 1774-6, and Declaration of Independence, 6 53 

First State Convention of 1776, 7 58 

Congress of 1778, and Articles of Confederation, 8 63 

Political Parties 1783 to 1789, 9 69 

Chancellor Livingston and Governor Clinton on Negro Suffrage, - - 10 75 

" " interest in Agriculture, 11 81 

Correspondence between Chancellor Livingston and John Jay, ■ - 12 86 

Inauguration of Washington in 1789, 13 97 

Political Records from 1792 to 1800, 14 105 

Chancellor Livingston's Mission to France, 15 119 

The First Introduction of Steam Navigation, 16 121 

Steam Navigation and Sketch of Fulton, 17 127 

" " Continued, 18 133 

Chancellor Livingston as an Orator, and Close of Life, - - • . 19 146 

Henry B. Livingston, 20 149 

John R. Livingston, 21 158 

Birih, Youth and Marriage of Edward Livingston, 22 157 

Edward Livingston in Congress, - - • 23 157 

" " Attorney for United States and Mayor of New Yori, 24 164 

" " in New Orleans, 25 168 

The Livingston Code, Election to Congress, and Secretary of State, - - 26 177 

Minister to France, and Death, 27 188 

Birth and Marriage of Janet Livingston, 28 194 

General Montgomery's Expedition to Canada, 29 199 

" " " " Continued, • • - 30 208 

Arnold's advance to join Montgomery, • 31 217 

General Montgomery's Expedition to Canada Continued, • • - 32 225 

Judge Henry's account of Montgomery's Death, 33 235 

Montgomery Place, 34 241 

Letters and Private Life of Mrs. Montgomery, 35 246 

Margaret Livingston, 36 256 

Catharine " 37 257 

Gertrude " 38 262 

Johanna " 39 264 

Alida " 40 266 

Philip Livingston, 41 285 

Sarah Livingston, 42 287 

"William Livingston, Governor of New Jersey, .... . 43 290 

" " Family Sketches and Letters, .... 44 294 

Incidents and Anecdotes of Governor Livingston, - . - -45 307 

Conclusion, - - - 313 

Appendix, 317 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

BETWEEN PAGES, 

Old Manor House, or Birth-place of Chancellor Livingston, . . - Frontispiece. 

Judge Eohert E. Livingston, from old Family Portrait, - - • 24-5 

Margaret B. Livingston, wife of the Judge, from old picture, - - 156-7 

Chancellor Robert E. Livingston, from original picture, ... 96-7 

Home of Chancellor Livingston at Clermont, ...... 256-7 



CHAPTER I. 

THE LIVINGSTONE FAMILY IN SCOTLAND. 

Before commencing with the history of the first settlement of 
the Livingstons in America, I thought it woukl be but proper to 
give a short sketch of the origin of this old family, and can find 
no better account, or as well told as that, by Mr. Theodore Sedg- 
wick, in his Life of Governor William Livingston, of New Jersey. 
I have therefore extracted most of the following, in this chapter, 
from that work. 

The name of Livingston as now written is differently spelt in 
ancient documents and by different authors, viz.: Livingstoune, 
Levingstoune, Livingstone. This ancient and distinguished fam- 
ily is said to derive its origin from an Hungarian gentleman of 
the name of Livingius, (vide Anderson's Genealogies,) who accom- 
panied Margaret, the sister of Edgar Atheling, and wife of King 
Malcolm Canmore, from his native country to Scotland, about the 
period of the Norman Conquest in 1008. In the reign of David 
the First of Scotland, says a tradition which seems not to pay a 
scrupulous regard to the usual duration of human existence, this 
same individual received a grant of lands in West Lothian, which 
was created a barony and named after the proprietor. This estate 
was transmitted through his descendants for nearly four hundred 
years, when in the reign of James IV, (1488-1513) Bartholomew 

Livingston dying without issue, the direct line became extinct ; a, 

2 



12 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

collateral brancli had however, in the mean time, acquired wealth, 
and consequence, and it is from this that the Earls of Linlithgow, 
in Scotland, and the Livingstons of America are descended. 

In the reign of David II, (1329-1370) Sir William Livingston 
Kt., marrying Christian, daughter and heh' to Patrick de Callendar, 
Lord of Callendar, in the County of Stirling, received that barony 
with her. His grandson John had, besides his eldest son Alexan- 
der, two others, Robert, the ancestor of the Earls of Newbm'gh ; a 
title illustrated by "Granville's Mira," (see "Mrs. Jameson's Loves 
of the Poets,") and William, progenitor of the viscounts of Kilsyth. 
The article in "Nicol's British Compendium," (2d Ed. London 
1725,) from which this account is so far drawn, is got up with a 
considerable show of accuracy, and perhaps compiled from the tra- 
ditions, communicated to the editor by some member of the family. 
History steps in to lend, descending from this period, her less 
doubtful aid. Sir Alexander Livingstone, of Callendar, just men- 
tioned, was in 1437, on the death of James I, appointed by the 
estates of the Kingdom joint regent with Crichton, during the 
minority of James II ; he not long after {vide Aikman's Buchanan II, 
117,) yielded to the formidable power of the young Earl of Doug- 
las, his property was confiscated, (but subsequently restored,) and 
his son brought to the block. His other son, James, who succeed- 
ed his father in the barony of Callendar, was created Lord Livings 
ton. He died in 1467. 

The lordship of Livingston apj^ears to have been one of the most 
important baronies. In the list of members of the Scottish Parlia- 
ment for the year 1560, I find the name of Livingston, and this is 
the parliament which upon petition admitted the lesser barons to 
the privilege of voting, which they had not before enjoyed, (Rob- 
ertson's History app.) William, the gi-eat-grandson of the last 
mentioned James, and fourth Lord Livingston, married Agnes, 
daughter of Sjr Patrick Hepburn, of Waughtenn, or Patrick Lord 
Hales, (perhaps the same individual is meant by these appellations,) 
and from him the Livingstons of this country are descended. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 13 

through his son Robert, who was slain at the battle of Pinkiefield. 
Alexander, his eldest son, sx;cceeded to the title, and it is his 
■daughter who was one of the "four Maries" that accompanied the 
Scottish Queen to the French Court. ( Vide Chalmers' History and 
Mrs. Jameson's Celebrated Female Sov's.) 

" Last night the Queen had four Maries, 
To-night she'll hae but three, 
There was Mary Seaton, and Mary Beaton 
And Mary Livingstone, and me." 

In the person of Alexander, the seventh Lord, the barony was 
exchanged for an Earldom, he being in 1600 created by James 
VI, Earl of Linlithgow. The title in full ran thus : "Earl of Lin- 
lithgow, Lord Livingstone, of Almont, hereditary keeper of the 
King's Castle at Linlithgow, hereditary Bailiff of the Bailiewick, 
there belonging to the Crown, hereditary Sheriff of the County of 
Stirling, and hereditary Governor of Blackness." 

The second son of the first Earl of Linlithgow was created 
Earl of Callendar, which title finally fell into the former, in the 
person of its last possessor. The Earldom of Linlithgow remained 
in the family for more than a century, and was transmitted through 
five descendants. They distinguished themselves by their grate- 
ful attachment to the house of Stuart, from whom they had de- 
rived their honors ; they shared their dangers durmg the civil 
wars, and were rewarded with offices of dignity and consequence, 
when the times permitted it. They appear to have been generally 
in the possession of some considerable civil or military post, and 
the name repeatedly occurs on the list of privy council. 

The head of the family was in arms with Dundee, in 1688-9, 
and the devotion of Anne, the daughter of the last Earl, to the 
same cause, resembles in its romantic details the events of an 
earlier date. She is said to have brought over her husband, the 
unfortunate Earl of Kilmarnock, to support the interests of the 
Pretender, and to have gained the battle of Falkirk, in 1746, for 
her party, by using the influence of her wit and beauty to detain 



14 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Ilawlcy at Callcndar House until too late to take the command of 
his troops. In the year 1715, James, last Earl of Linlithgow, 
and Callendar, who in 1713 was chosen one of the peers of the 
United Kingdom, true to his hereditary faith, joined the Earl of 
Mar. On the failure of that nobleman's enterprise, his title and 
estates w^ere forfeited, together with their attendant rights and 
privileges. Tliis Earldom has not, like many of the Scottish peer- 
ages, been restored. The present heir declines, it is said, the 
barren and expensive honor. 

We now return to William, the fom-th Lord Livingstone. His 
son Robert, who fell at the battle of Pinkiefield in 1547 is, as has 
been stated, the reputed ancestor of the family in America. Here 
occurs one of those tantalizing difficulties of so common occurrence 
in tracing pedigrees. By one statement this Robert is made the 
grandfather, and by another the great-grandfather of John Liv- 
ingston, the parent of the first emigrant of the name, to America. 
Be this important -question settled as it may, and it seems probable 
that the second supposition is nearer the truth — the individuals 
intervening between Robert and John appear to have been minis- 
ters of the Church of Scotland, and to have left no more conspicu- 
ous memorial of the exercise of their sacred functions, than may 
be found in their parish records. With John Livingston however 
the case is diirerent. He appears to have possessed both power of 
intellect, and vigor of resolution, and his name ranks high in the 
annals of the Scottish Church. I Avill here introduce a very cu- 
rious letter written by a son of John Livingston of Ancram. 
This letter was found by the late General Henry Livingston, 
among some old papers belonging to the family at Ancram, Co- 
lumbia County, N. Y., and is printed from a copy made in 1811 : 

Edinburgh, 13 December, 1698. 
"Dk.vr Buotiier : 

I have yours of the 20th of September last, from New York ; it 

came to hand with the printed narrative of the five Indian Nations 

then treating with the Earl of Belloraont, your Governor, under 



GLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 15 

cover of Mr. Hacksham the 28th of November, for which I am 
much obliged to you. It was in my last, I sent to Mr. Hacksham 
an attestation under the hand and seal of our Magistrate, of your 
being a native of this country, but had no account from him what 
use he had made of it. I did then write him yt I pui'posed to 
procure your coat of arms, and the Lyon Hercuels warrant, and 
your birth brief, and desyred to know, if he had effects of yours, 
yt I might draw for about 7 or 8 1. that I found it would cost ; 
but had no answer, so have forborne it hitherto, but have prepared 
it so- far that I find you are the son of Mr. John, whose father was 
Mr. Alexander ; and Mr. Alexander, his father was Robert, who 
was killed at Pinkiefield in 1547, and was brother german to Alex- 
ander Lord Livingston ; their father was William the fourth Lord 
Livingston, and the eighth of the house of Callendar ; he Avas mar- 
ried to Hepburn daughter of Sir Patrick Hepburn of 

Waughtenn ; So that your propper coat to be given you is this 
enclosed which is thus emblazoned viz. quarterly 1st and 4th Argent, 
three gilliflowers Gules, slipped propper within a double tressure 
umber florevest, the name of Livingston 2d quartered first and 
last Gules, a chifron Argent, a role between two lyons counter 
rampant of the field, 2d and 3d Argent three martletts Gules, the 
name of Hepburn of Waughtenn, 3d quarter Sable a bend between 
six billets, or the name of Callendar ; yom* liveries is green faced 
up wh whytt and red, green and whytt passments. I would cause 
cutt you a seal with this coat-of-arms, having one James Clark, a 
very honest man, who is graver to our mint-house here, and the 
most dexterous in that art, but could not get a steel block to cut 
upon. There is gi'eat alterations among us. My sister Jeanet 
dyed in August 1696; our brother-in-law Mr* Russell came home 
in August 1697, and was very sicklie; he dyed in November after 
without leaving any testament of his will, so that his only son 
James, is left as low as any of his daughters ; two of them were 
married in his own tyme, but neither with his nor my sister's good 
liking; but they refused to submit, and accordingly were but 
meanly provided; the three sisters jX were yet unmarried di4 



16 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

choose James Dimlip and me Cm-ators, but have not taken our 
counsell upon their marriages, their great tochers have made them 
a prey. He left towards ten thousand pounds Stirling but in such 
confusion yt there will be little credit by it. We shall writt more 
at length. This I send wh some letters from my brother direct to 
Mr. Hacksham. My entire love to your second self and your dear 
children, and to nephew Robert, tell him to writt to me. 

I am your loving and most affectionate brother, 

WILL. LIVINGSTON. 

I have written to a friend in Linlithgow and to David Jameson, 
and spoke in full to send attestations of what you desyre, over to 
the people you direct, and expres thereof to yourself." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. IT 



CHAPTER II. 

THE LIVIXGSTOXS IN SCOTLAND AND AMERICA, CONTINUED. 

On the beautiful river, Hudson, opposite the lofty Kaatskills, 
and in the midst of scenery unsur^jassed by any in Europe, even 
upon the Rliine, was situated a fine estate belonging to Robert 
Livingston, the grandfather of the late Chancellor Livingston. 
He was the youngest son of Robert, the first Lord of the Manor, 
(which contained about one hundi'ed and sixty thousand acres,) 
and a grandson of John Livingston, a celebrated preacher in the 
Scottish Church. 

This John Livingston, or Mess John, as he was called in the 
ballads of these days, was gi'eat-grandson to the Robert that we 
read of in the previous Chapter, who was killed in the battle of 
Pinkiefield in 1547, son of the Earl of Linlithgow. Mess John was 
appointed a Commissioner, with others commissioned by Parlia- 
ment, to negotiate ^v^th Charles II, for the terms of his restoration 
to power. 

The story has been often told, and now the same old story will 
be told again, of this young minister preaching to a large congre- 
gation in the open aii\ He lost his notes, and from an overlook- 
ing hill he beheld the multitude awaiting his coming to address 
them ; his heart sank within him, and he dropped upon his knees 
in prayer for guidance ; his prayers were answered, (as the stoiy or 
tradition runs) : "Have I ever been a ban-ea wilderness to thee," 
3 



18 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

He got up, walked to the appointed spot where the multitude 
awaited him, and preached with so much force that three hundred 
of his hearers were converted at the time by his eloquence. 

He was afterwards persecuted on account of nonconformity, and 
many of his hearers and himself took passage for America. They 
were nearly shipwrecked, and he set apart three days for fisting 
and prayer, and resolved if the storm did not abate within that 
given time they would return to Scotland. The time having 
expired and the storm not abating, they put about the vessel and 
sailed for the home they had left. He was afterwards exiled to 
Rotterdam, where his son learned the Dutch language. 

His son Robert was born on December 13th, 1634, at Ancram, 
in Teviotdale, Roxburghshire, Scotland. He was ambitious, 
shrewd, acquisitive, sturdy and bold. His whole career was a per- 
sistent illustration of the motto upon the scroll of his ancestors' 
coat of arms, ''Si je Puis." He emigrated to America in 1674, and 
married about 1683, Alida, widow of the Reverend, sometimes 
called Patroon, Nicholas Van Rensselaer, and daughter of Philip 
Pieterre Schuyler. We find him in 1676, in responsible employ- 
ment at Albany, under the Colonial administration, and in 1686, 
estabhshed by Governor Dongan in possession of the territorial 
manor of Livingston, on the Hudson, acquired by purchase of the 
Indians, which large tracts were all incorporated into Livingston 
Manor. 

Albany was then a Dutch Village of the old Knickerbockers. 
I will here give a curious old letter of Robert Livingston's, at 
Albany, to the authorities of the city of Albany : 

By ye Mayor, Aldermen mid Commonalty of ye city of Albany, 
and ye Jiistlce of ye county aforesaid: 

Whereas, The selling and giving of strong drhiks to ye In- 
dians, at this present juncture, is founde by experience extreme 
dangerous insomuch, yt diverse inhabitants at Schinnechtady, and 
elsewhere, have made then- complaint, that there is no living if ye 
Jndiau be not kept from diinke, we do therefore hereby Strikly 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 19 

Prohibit nnd forbid, in ye name of King William & Queen Mary, 
yt no Inhabitants of ye city and county of Albany, doe sell or give 
any Kum, Brandy, Strong Liquer or Beer, to any Indian, or Indi- 
ans, upon any pretence whatsoever, upon ye Penalty of Two 
months imj^risonment, without Baile or mainj^rise, and moreover a 
fine of five pounds toties quoties, ye proofs hereof to be made, as 
is inserted in ye Proclamation, Prohibiting ye selling of strong 
drink, dated ye 21st day of May, 1689, which is by proof, or 
Purgation, by oath, always provided, yt it shall, and may be in ye 
Power, of ye Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of ye sd city, if 
they see cause to give any small quantity of rum to any Sachems 
who come here about public bussiness, any prohibition above sd in 
any manner notwithstanding, — given att ye City Hall of Albany 
ye 12th day of September, 1689. pord 

"ROBERT LIVINGSTON." 

That the Mayor and Commonalty of Albany assisted Robert 
Livingston in his Avork, will be seen from the following order also 
found in (Dawson's Historical Magazine.) 

At a 3feeting of ye 3Iayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty, of ye 
city of Albany, and ye 3filitary Officers of ye same ye 2dt/i 
day of Ju7ie, 1689 .• 

"Whereas, complaint is made to us, ye Mayor, Aldermen, and 
Commonalty, assisted with ye Military Oflicers of ye citty of Al- 
bany, yt ye Collector is Denyed ye liberty, to gage ye rum, yt is 
brought up from N. York, according to ye law and former practice 
of this Province, Pretending that there is no authority for ye 
same. The said Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty, and Mili- 
tary Ofiicers, are unanimously resolved to maintain ye sd Excises, 
in ye self same vigour and Power, as formerly, for ye use of their 
Majsts now itpon ye Throne, to be accomptable to such governor, 
or ofiicers, as their Majts shall be Pleased to send to Rule over us. 
We, ye Mayor, Aldermen, Commonalty, and Military Ofiicers, 
have therefore Thought fit unanimously to order and require ye 
high Sherifi" and Constables of this city, to be aiding and assisting 



20 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR 



to Robt. Livingston, Col., in carrying ye sd Rum to be gaged, and 
all ye casks to viewed, yt is now come out of ye sloop of Peter 
Bogardus, which is suspected to be Rum, instead of Molasses, and 
to enter into ye houses & cellers of any Inhabitants of this city, 
where any of said casks are Lodged, and if any person shall Resist 
you by force, that you then take special notice Avho they are that 
resist, that the may be called to acct. for their contempt in Due 
time, in doing where — this shall be yr sufficient Warrant. Given 
under our hands and scales in Albany, ye 29th day of June, 1689. 

"PR. SCHUYLER, 
"JOHN WENDELL." 

In the autumn of 1694, Robert Livingston, thinking it necessary 
to go to England, to advance his interests at his former home in 
the old country, before leaving, resigned the office which he 
held at Albany, and then sailed on his destination. If we may 
credit the family tradition, his voyage was disastrous ; he was 
shipwrecked on the coast of Portugal, and compelled to cross 
Spain and France by land. This anecdote is in some measure 
corroborated by the change in the Li\'ingston coat-of-arms, which 
have, so far back as they can be traced in this country, borne for 
crest, a demi-savage ; and, it is said, that the alteration was made 
by him, in commemoration of this event. A ship in distress, in 
lieu of the original demi-savage, still borne by the fiunily in Scot- 
land, and again replaced by the present members of the fimiily in 
this country. In allusion to this incident, it is said that he chang- 
ed the motto also, adopting, instead of that of the Scottish family, 
"Sije Puis," the motto "Spero Meliora." 

Governor William Livingston, of New Jersey, writes thus to 
Col. Livingston, in Holland, June 10th, 1785 : 

"My Grandfither (Robert,) on the occasion of his being cast 
away on the coast of Portugal, altered the crest and motto of the 
family arms, the former into a Ship in an adverse Avind, the latter 
into Spero Meliora. These have since been retained by all the 



:ioj9 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 21 

family except myself, who not being able, Avitliout ingratitude to 
Providence, to wish for more than I had, changed the former into 
a Ship under full sail, and the latter into Aut Mors Vita decora." 

The patent of the Manor and Lordship of Livingston, granted to 
Robert, bears date the 22d of July, 1685, and comjDrised from one 
hundred and twenty thousand, to one htmdred and sixty thous- 
and aci-es on the Hudson River. In the year 1715 the grant of 
the Livingston Manor was confirmed by the royal authority, and 
the additional privileges of electing a representative to the general 
assembly of the colony, and two constables, were conferred upon 
the tenants. The advantage in effect resulted to their Lord ; and 
this Manor until the revolution, belonged strictly to that perni- 
cious class of institutions, close boroughs, which gave way with 
instantly before the equal influences of Rejjublicanism ; but which 
from the more congenial soil of England, half a century has hardly 
extirpated. 

Of the Manors created in the Province 'of New York, the princi- 
pal of which were those of Rensselaer, Livingston, Cortlandt, 
Philipsburg and Beekman, that of Livingston was, with the ex- 
ception of the first, the largest, though not comparatively the 
richest or most valuable. I have noted the number of acres it 
originally comprised. It commenced about five miles south of 
the city of Hudson, (or where it now is,) extending twelve miles 
on the Hudson River, and. from that River easterly to the State 
line between Ncav York and Massachusetts, and widening, as it 
receded from the river, so as to embrace not far from twenty miles 
on the boundary of the latter colony. Five or six thousand acres 
were taken from it as a settlement for the Palatines, who came 
out with Gov. Hunter in 1710, and was called Germantown, and 
so called to this day. This purchase was made by the Crown, for 
the sum of two hundred pounds sterling, which if it may be con- 
sidered as an average, though as the result of a government trans- 
action it Avas probably a high one, gives the whole Manor a value 
of between twenty-five and thirty thousand dollars. This is to be 



22 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

looked upon however as a nominal estimate, for even a generation 
after this, the dower of the widow of Philip, the second proprietor 
in this extensive estate, is said to have been but £90 currency per 
annum, or about $280. Governor Livingston, speaking of it in a 
letter to the son of the last proprietor, dated November 10th, 1755, 
says : 

"Without a large personal estate, and their own uncommon in- 
dustry and capacity for business, instead of making out of their 
extensive tract of land a fortune for their children, it Avould have 
proved both to you and my Father but a competent maintenance." 

Thirteen thousand acres or thereabouts of land were set oiF by 
the last will of Robert, the first lord, to form the Lower Manor of 
Clermont, which was given to his son Robert, the grandfather 
of the late Chancellor Livingston. 

The bulk of this extensive estate, properly, was devised Sntail, 
and transmitted through the two next generations, in the hands of 
the eldest son and grandson, Philip and Robert. On the death of 
the latter, the estate being divided, the shares of his four sons 
were understood to be about twenty-eight thousand acres, some 
further deductions having been made by the running of the line 
between this State and Massachusetts. The first conveyance of 
land to Robert Livingston was dated July 12th, 1683, and was 
for two thousand acres on Roelof Jansen's Kill. The deed was 
executed by two Indians and two squaws. The consideration was 
— the purchasers promise to pay to the said owners the following 
goods, in five day's time, to wit : 

Three hundred guilders in zewaut, eight blankets and two 
child's blankets, five and twenty ells of duficls, and four garments 
of strouds, ten large shirts and ten small ditto, ten pairs of largo 
stockings and ten small pairs, six guns, fifty pounds of poM'der, 
fifty staves of lead, four caps, ten kettles, ten axes, ten adzes, two 
pounds of paint, twenty little scissors, twenty little looking glasses, 
one hundred fish-hooks, aAvls and nails of each one hundred, four 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 23 

rolls of tobacco, one hiindrod pipes, ten bottles, three kegs of rum, 
one ban-el of strong beer, twenty knives, four stroud coats and two 
duffel coats, and four tin kettles." 

Such were the agreements made in those good old times when 
land was cheap and taxes "nowhere." 

Philip Livingston, son of Robert, who succeeded to the Manor- 
ial estate, w^as born at Albany in 1686, (his father died in 1728,) 
and prominent in the history of the colony, married Catherine 
Van Brugh, daughter of Peter Van Brugh, of Albany, of the 
Dutch family of Van Brugge, of whom w\as Carl Van Brugge, 
Lieutenant Governor under Peter Stuyvesant in 1648. Among 
the children by this marriage were Robert, who succeeded to the 
Manor as the last lord, the revolution breaking the entail ; Peter 
Van Brugh, Merchant of New York, who married Mary Alexan- 
der, sister of Lord Stirling, Peter and his wife adhering to the 
crown during the Revolutionary War ; Philip, Signer of the 
Declaration of Independence, John, also a Merchant of New York, 
William, Governor of New Jersey ; Sarah, wife of Alexander Lord 
Stirling ; Alida, who married first, Henry HaAVsen, and secondly 
Martin Hoffman ; Catherine, who married John L. Laurence, and 
lastly, Henry. I will give a short sketch of Governor William 
Livingston in the concluding part of this work, but will first take 
the descendants of Robert, and of those who have lived in the old 
Clermont Manor House. 

Robert Livingston, after receiving his estate from his father, 
built a large Stone House at Clermont, which he afterwards, in his 
old age, gave to his son. Judge Robert R. Livingston, in w^hose 
family he lived beloved until his death, which took place in the 
Spring of 1775, just after the eventful battle of Lexington. Says 
Mrs. Olin : "He was a man of extraordinary attainments for his 
time, and distinguished for his early prophecies of American Inde- 
pendence, the fulfillment of which he was not permitted to see. 'I 
shall not see America independent,' were the remarkable words he 
used before the war, and Robert, he said to his son, 'you will not.' 



24 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

'Montgomery,' speaking to General Montgomery who had married 
his granddaughter, 'you may.' 'Robert,' addressing his grandson, 
afterwards Chancellor Livingston, 'you will.' " Prophetic words 
that had a literal fulfillment. 

Two very interesting sketches of him have been written by his 
grandson, Edward Livingston, and his granddaughter, Mrs. 
General Montgomery. Edward Livingston thus describes him, at 
the advanced age of eighty-four : "His figixre was tall and some- 
what bent, but not emaciated by age, which had marked, but not 
disfigtn-ed, a face once remarkable for its regular beauty of feature, 
and still beaming with the benevolence, and intelligence, that had 
always illuminated it. He marked the epoch at which he retired 
from the world, by preserving its costume, — the flowing well 
powdered wig, the bright brown coat, with large cuffs, and square 
sKirts, the cut velvet waistcoat, with ample flaps, and the breeches 
scarcely covering the knee, the silk stockings, rolled over them 
with embroidered clocks, and shining squared-toed shoes, fastened 
near the ancle with small embossed gold buckles. These were 
retained in his service, not to effect a singularity, but because he 
thought it ridiculous, at his time of life, to allow the quick succes- 
sion of fashion." Mrs. Montgomery thus writes of him : "He 
always rose at five in the morning and read without ceasing until 
near breakfast. The year before his death he learned the German 
tongue and spoke it fluently. On the breaking out of the war, he 
was in raptures. In beginning with the Bostonians, he said, they 
had taken the bull by the horns. His sanguine temper made him 
expect with confidence our independence. He seemed to begin 
life again, his eye had all the fire of youth, and I verily believe the 
battle of Bunker Hill, of which such a disastrous rei)ort was made, 
was his death. He took to his bed immediately, lay a week with- 
out pain, and died." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 25 



CHAPTER III. 



JUDGE IIOBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 



I forgot to mention in a previous chapter, as I should have done, 
that the Lower Manor of Clermont was given to Robert Livings- 
ton, by his father, as a reward for having discovered and frustrated 
a plot, which had been formed among the Indians, for the massacre 
of all the white inhabitants of the Province. Judge Robert R. 
Livingston, the son of the first proprietor of Clermont, was born in 
1719, and married in 1742 to Margaret Beekman, daughter of Col. 
Henry Beekman, and granddaughter, on her mother's side, of 
Robert, nephew of the first proprietor of the Livingston Manor, 
and Margaretta Schuyler. The children of Judge Livingston, 
were four sons and six daughters. One daughter died in infancy. 
The names of the children were as follows : 

Janet, born 1743, and married to the celebrated Richard Mont- 
gomery, who fell at Quebec. Robert R., first Chancellor of State 
of New York, born 1746. Margaret, born in 1748, married Dr. 
Tillotson, of Rhinebeck, who was one of the early Secretaries of 
the State of New York. Henry B., born in 1750, a Colonel in the 
army of the Revolution. Catharine, born in 1752, married the 
Rev. Freeborn Garrettson, of Rhinebeck, formerly of Mainland, and 
one of the early Pioneers qf the Methodist Chm-ch in the United 
States. John Rj, born in 1755. Gertmde, born in 1757, married 

the Politician, General, and Governor Morgan Lewis. Joanna, 
4 



'2Q CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

born in 1759, married tlie great Politician, Peter P. Livingston. 
Alida, born in 17G1, married General John Armstrong, of the 
Revolution. Edward, born in 17G4, one of America's most dis- 
tinguished men. 

The father of this large family, Judge Livingston, was a man 
of solid judgment, extensive knowledge, and high christian charac- 
ter. His wife has left a pen and ink sketch of him. "At the age 
of eighteen," she writes, "I was made the happy wife of Robert R. 
Livingston ; to say that my best friend was an agreeable man, 
would but ill express a character that shone among the brightest ; 
his finely cultivated understanding, his just and wise decisions as 
a judge, a patriot ever attentive to the interests of his country, and 
a discerning politician. These were all brightened by an unequal- 
ed sweetness of disposition, and a piety that gilded every action of 
his life." His daughter, Catharine, remembers him Avith solemn 
.and devout aspect, pacing up and down the walks, at Clermont. 
He lost his position as Judge of the King's Bench, on account of 
his sympathy with the popular side. He writes to his wife about 
this time thus : 

"This morning, I entertained myself walking and reading among 
the blossoms, which was as pleasant and agreeable as any thing 
can be at this distance from you, and I hope will not be unprofit- 
able to me hereafter. I put up my prayers often, and in an ar- 
dent manner to God, and beseech him with tears, if it be his will, 
to put me in some way of being useful to myself, my dear family, 
of which you are the dearest to me, and to my fellow creatures. 
If an alteration in my circumstances be best for me, I humbly hojie 
I shall not petition in vain. In the meantime, I hope he will 
enable me to practice those duties which are suited to my circum- 
stances, patience, resignation to the divine will, piety towards 
God, duty to my parents, a tender and sincere love to my wife, 
and a fatherly afiection' for my little ones. Thus musing I spent 
the forenoon of this day, and this afternoon I have sat down to 
converse with you. If you find me either too serious, or too dull, 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 27 

remember you have taken me for better or worse. I for my part 
have pleased myself in conversing with her who is my greatest 
happiness on earth." 

His wife was an heiress to a very large landed estate. Her 
grandmother was Margaret Schuyler, called by the Indians of the 
time, "the great Quidor." One of the squaws named her son 
Edward Livingston, after Mrs. Livingston's yoiingest son, when 
she had returned from a visit to the old Manor House. Mrs. Liv- 
ingston was a stately lady, always addressed as the Madam by her 
tenantry, and a good christian. The following letter will be found 
interesting in its details of a long journey from New York to 
Clermont, then counted by days, and now performed in between 
three and four hours, written by Mrs. Livingston to the Judge, 
her husband : 

Clemiont, July 12th, 1766. 

"With joy I embrace this opportunity of conversing with you, 
by the Manor Sloop, since it is the only means now left of convey- 
ing our sentiments to each other. We set out from New York in 
so great a hurry that I could not give myself the pleasure of see- 
ing or the pain of parting with you. We had a very pleasant ride 
the first day, which brought us to Croton. Here we were detained 
until the next day by rain, but it is imj)0ssible to describe this 
day's journey ; the crags, precipices and mountains that we had a 
view of, together with the excessive badness of the roads, that 
were laid bare by streams of water taking their course through the 
midst, which made it very disagreeable to me. We could go no 
further that day than Warren's, who lives in the midst of the 
Highlands, but the next day made up for the fatigue of this. We 
had a most charming journey the remaining part of the way. We 
breakfasted at Van Wick's, who lives at Fishkill, dined at Pough- 
keepsie, and slept at Rhinebeck, where we came at 6 o'clock. 
The next morning, which was Sunday, we came home at 9 o'clock, 
and found all my flimily in good health and spirits. As for myself, 
I was not at all fatigued, thanks be to God for all his mercies ; but, 



ZQ CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

whatever was the reason, the day was not to my soul as my New 
York Sabbaths. My heart was in your solemn assemblies. Ah, 
thought I, for one of those precious hours I have been favored 
Avith there. Everything about me is very agreeable. The countiy 
at this season is delightful, and everything calls aloud, remember 
the goodness of God, to the most unworthy of his creatures. Ah, 
my dear ! religion is the one thing needful ; this will support us 
under every trial, even the last closing scene of life. It will make 
us quit all our near and dear connexions with joy, and cheerfully 
resign them into the same all Gracious hand that hath supported 
and led us in so wonderful a manner unto Himself" * * * * 

The following is one of Judge Livingston's letters, written to 
his wife in July, 1755, thirteen years after their marriage, and 
when she had borne him seven childi'en : 

"My last letter was written in a melancholy mood. To you I 
am not used to disguise my thoughts. Indeed I have for a long 
time been generally sad, except when your presence, and idea, en- 
livens my spirits. Think, then, with how much pleasure I receiv- 
ed your favors of the 30th of June and od inst. This I did not do 
until last Sunday, and I have been happy ever since. You are the 
cordial drop, with which Heaven has graciously thought fit to 
sweeten my cup. This makes me taste of happiness, in the midst 
of disappointments. My imagination paints you, with all your 
loveliness, with all the charms my soul has for so many years 
doated on, with all the sweet endearments j^ast, and those which 
I flatter myself I shall still experience. I may truly say, I have 
not a pleasant thought (abstracted from those of an hereafter) with 
which your idea is not connected, and even those of future happi- 
ness give me a prospect of a closer union with you. I have not 
agreed with the Benthuysens yet; and what is unaccountable, 
they say that ray offers are not fair. I fear that I must go to law 
with them at last, but I shall try once more to get their final an- 
swer. I expect to-morrow the pleasure of the last letter from you, 
"while I am absent, I^et the next, after your receipt of this, be to 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 29 

my father, for I hope to be on my voyage to you next Saturday. 
To-morrow I intend to go and see your father, to consult with 
him. Your letters give me some hope of Bedloe's, which would 
be a very agreeable thing indeed. We must depend on Provi- 
dence, and hope for the best. May God in his mercy preserve you 
and gi'ant us a happy meeting, for without you I am nothing. 

"Yours, most affectionately, 

"ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 

"P. S. — Remember me to all the little ones Providence has com- 
mitted to our charge, and kiss them for me. Wednesday the 9th. 
Began to write on Tuesday, intending to send by a sloop, but it 
goes now by the mail." 

I here introduce another letter written from Clermont, by Judge 
Livingston's father, to his grandson, Robert R. Livingston, Jr., 
afterwards the Chancellor. The Judge and his father were both 
residing at Clermont, while the future Chancellor was studying 
law in New York. It is indeed a valuable relic of the past : 

Clermont, the 29th March, 17G9. 
"Dr. Grandson Robert : 

I reed, yrs of the 6th of March ; but your good father opened it 
by mistake ; consequently he knew you had applyed to me, in 
pursuance of my orders, for a little money, in case you should be 
straitened, which I take in good part. Yr. daddy was a little out 
of humour, alledging you was a little too lavish, but I told him 
you could not receive cash for law, till bills were taxt, and then 
not to be too hasty, which would look necessitous and griping, 
wherein he acquiesced. I should immediately have enclosed you a 
10 lb. bill, but he told me you would receive aljout £50 or £60 
of his money, Avhereout you could deduct that amount ; so I gave 
him the £10." ****** 

Judge Livingston was a man, whose religious feeling was the 
ruling quality of his character. His judicial duties, political 
labors, and private affairs, gave him plenty of employment. He 



30 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

was Chainnan of the Committee appointed by the General Assem- 
bly of New York, to correspond with other Assemblies, in relation 
to the grievances of the Colonies. He was admitted, in the 
absence of delegates regularly appointed, by New York, in the 
Stamp Act Congress of 1765. He was the author of the address 
to the King, adopted by that body, praying for the invaluable 
rights of taxing ourselves, and trials by our peers. Judge Living- 
ston's moderation kept him rather behind his father and his son, in 
their views of Indej^endence. (The petition to the King can be 
found in tlie appx. to this work.) Now we are on the Stamp Act, 
a few remarks, and the connection of Judge Livingston with it, 
will not be out of place. A Stamp Act Bill passed the House of 
Commons in March, 1764. It had been proposed as early as 1734 
by Crosby, Governor of New York, and in 1739 by Keith, Gover- 
nor of Pennsylvania. It was suggested by Clarke, Lieutenant- 
Governor of New York, in 1744, by Dr. Franklin in the First 
Colonial Congress in 1754, and by Lieutenant-Governor Delancey 
in 1755. The Americans would listen to jiroj^ositions for taxation 
by theii' local governments, but would not brook such imposition 
from abroad. It was proposed to Sir Robert Walpole in 1732, 
when that sagacious statesman said, "No, no; I Avill leave the 
taxation of America to some of my successors who have more 
courage than I have ;" and when it was proposed to Pitt in 1759, 
he said, emphatically, "I will never burn my fingers with an 
American Stamp Act." But Gienville, honest but utterly unable 
to look beyond the routine of official duty, took the step boldly, 
because he could not perceive the danger, and illustrated the asser- 
tion that 

"Fools rush in where angola fear to tread." 

He wholly mistook the temper of the Americans at that time. It 
had been sorely tried by earlier offensive measures ; and a con- 
sciousness of latent power made the colonists restive under petty 
oppressions. They had resolved not to he taxed icitlioiit their oxen 
consent. A great principle was involved in their resolution, and 
they were firni, 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 31 

When intelligence of these tax measures reached America it 
produced Avide-spread discontents among the people. The right 
of Parliament to tax them without their consent Avas generally 
denied ; and they asserted a present inability to pay increased taxes 
because of the depression in business produced by the late war. 
They pleaded justly, that the operations of the new revenue laAvs 
would work disastrously upon their trade with the Spanish Main 
and the "West Indies, from which alone they derived the means of 
paying taxes in coin. But the Imperial Government Avas deaf to 
all petitions and remonstrances, several of which Avere presented. 
The assurances of Dr. Franklin, who was sent to England as the 
agent for Pennsyh^ania, that the taxes Avould never be paid, and 
that an attempt to collect them by force might endanger the unity 
of the British empire, Avere unheeded. The Ministry openly 
declared that it Avas "intended to establish noio the poAver of Great 
Britain to tax the colonies" at all hazards ; and the King, in his 
speech at the opening of Parliament early in January, 1765, alluded 
to the excitement in America, recommended the adoption of a 
Stamj) Act, and declared his intention to use every means in his 
power "to enforce obedience in the colonies." The Act — the 
famous Stamp Act which figures so conspicuously in the events 
immediately preceding the old war for Independence that gave 
birth to our republic — was passed after some opposition in Parlia- 
ment, and on the 22d of March became a law by receiA'ing the 
signature of the King. The Act Avas to go into eifect on the 1st 
of November folloAving. 

For almost a year the colonists had been in expectation of the 
passage of a Stamp Act, and their feelings were at fever heat. 
When news of its having actually become a law reached them the 
whole country was agioAV Avith intense excitement. In every 
colony the people expressed their determination to resist its 
enforcement. Massachusetts and Virginia were loudest in their 
denunciations of it, while New York and Pennsylvania were not 
much behind them in active zeal. Indeed Ncav York had led in 
the matter. As early as October the previous year, the Assembly 



32 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

of that Province appointed a Committee, with Robert R. Livings 
ton as chairman, to correspond with their agent in Great Britain, 
and with the other Colonial Legislatures, on the subject of this 
Act and kindred oj^pressive measures adopted by Parliament. 
That Committee, early in 1765, urged upon the Colonial Assem- 
blies the necessity for holding a General Congi-ess of delegates to 
remonstrate and protest against the continued violation of their 
rights and liberties. The idea was popular. Massachusetts was 
the first to take public action on the subject. That action originat- 
ed in a conversation one evening at the house of James Warren, of 
Plymouth, when James Otis the elder, father of Mrs. Wan-en, and 
James Otis the younger, her brother, were guests there. The 
recommendation of the New York Committee was the topic ; and 
it was agreed that, at the next meeting of the General Assembly 
of the Province, the proposition should be presented by the 
younger Otis, who was a member of that body. Accordingly, on 
the 6th of June he moved in the Assembly, that "It is highly 
expedient there should be a meeting, as soon as may be, of Com- 
mittees from the Houses of Representatives, or Burgesses, in the 
several colonies, to consult on the present circumstances of the 
colonies, and the difficulties to which they are, and must be, 
reduced, and to consider of a General Addi'ess — to be held at the 
city of New York the first Tuesday of October." The resolution, 
and a circular letter to the other Assemblies, were adopted, and 
the Speaker was instructed to send a copy to the Speaker of each 
of those Assemblies. The following is a copy of the letter : 

"Boston, June, 1765. 

"Sir,— The House of Representatives of this Province, in the 
present session of the General Court, have unanimously agreed to 
propose a meeting, as soon as may be, of Committees from the 
Houses of Representatives or Burgesses of the several British 
colonies on this continent, to consult together on the present 
circumstances of the colonies, and the difficulties to which they 
are, and must be, reduced by the operation of the acts of Parlia- 



CLERMONT, OR LTYINGSTON MANOR. 33 

ment for levying duties and taxes on the colonies ; and to consider 
of a general, and united, diitiful, loyal, and linmble representation 
of their condition to his Majesty and the Parliament, and to 
implore relief The House of Representatives of this Province has 
also voted to propose that such meeting be at the city of New 
York, in the Province of New York, on the first Tuesday in Octo- 
ber next ; and have appointed a Committee of three of their mem- 
bers to attend that service, with such as the other Houses of 
Representatives, or Burgesses, in the several colonies, may think 
fit to appoint to meet them. And the Committee of the House of 
Representatives of this Province are directed to repair to New 
York on said first Tuesday in October next accordingly. If, there- 
fore, your honorable House should agree to this proposal, it would 
be acceptable that as early notice of it as possible might be trans- 
mitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives of this 

Province. 

"SAMUEL WHITE, Speaker r 

This letter was received with joy in all the colonies. More than 
ten years before Dr. Franklin had printed in his paper a rude 
picture of a disjointed snake, with the initials of a colony on each 
part, and the significant words, Join or Die. That symbol of 
weakness in separation — that hint of life and strength in Union, 
had been pondered by the people all that time. The idea of a 
national confederation had become a sentiment and a ho^^e in the 
hearts of thoughtful men ; and now, when a way for Union seemed 
wide open and inviting, the people accepted the opportunity with 
thankfulness. 

The Congress assembled in the city of New York on Monday, 
the 7th day of October, 17G5. Nine of the thirteen colonics were 
represented, as follows : 

Massachusetts. ^~5 -Ames, Otis, Oliver Partridge, Timothy Ruggles. 

Rhode Island. — Metcalfe Bowler, Henry Ward. 

Connecticut. — Eliphalet Dyer, David Rowland, William Samuel 
Johnson. 
5 



34 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

N'ev) Yorl: — Robert R. Livingston, John Cruger, Philip Liv- 
ingston, William Bayard, Leonard Lispenard. 

Kew Jersey. — Robei-t Ogden, Hendi-ick Fisher, Joseph Borden. 

Pennsylvania. — John Dickenson, John Morton, George Bryan. 

Delaware. — Cajsar Rodney, Thomas M'Kean, 

Maryland. — William Murdock, Edward Tilghman, Tliomas 
Ringgold. 

South Carolina. — Thomas Lynch, Christopher Gadsden, John 
Rutledge. 

It Avill be observed that six of the twenty-seven delegates were 
signers of the Declaration of Independence, eleven years afterward. 

In the Address to the King, the most loyal attachment to his 
person, family, and office was avowed. They alluded to vested 
rights and liberties found in their charters ; and they expressed 
their belief that if His Majesty should fix the pillars of liberty and 
justice, and secure the rights and privileges of his subjects in 
America, upon the principles of the British Constitution (which is 
simply the body of the laws,) a foundation would be laid for 
rendering the British empire the most extensive and powerful of 
any recorded in history. 

Their voice Avas potential ; and on the 18th of March, 1766, an 
Act to repeal the Stamp Act, accompanied by Pitt's Declaratory 
Act, so called, was passed, and became a law on the same day by 
receiving the signature of the King. He signed the Stamp Act 
cheerfully, but affixed his signature to the Act for its repeal most 
reluctantly. It was carried in the Commons by a vote of two hun- 
dred and seventy-five to one hundred and sixteen. It met stren- 
uous ojjposition in the House of Lords, Avhere it had a majority of 
thirty-four. Thirty-three peers entered a strong protest against it, 
embodying ten argumentative reasons, the most forcible of which 
that seemed to operate on their minds being that "such a submis- 
sion of King, Lords, and Commons, under such circumstances, in 
so strange and unheard-of a contest, would in effigct surrender their 
^ncient, unalienable rights of supreme jurisdiction, and give them 



CLERMONT, OR LI KINGSTON MANOR. 35 

exclusively to the subordinate Provincial Legislatures." Precisely 
what the peojjle demanded, and what the Congress had declared to 
be the inalienable right of the people. 

The news of the repeal of the Stamp Act was received with 
unbounded joy by the Americans, and the shackles uj^on commerce 
were immediately loosened. London had already been illuminat- 
ed, and the shipping of the Thames decorated with flags in honor 
of the event. In Boston the intelligence Avas received at noon on 
a bright May day. The bells were rung; cannon roared; the Sons 
of Liberty di-ank toasts ; all the debtors in jail were set free ; John 
Hancock treated the poj^ulace to a pipe of wine, and the capital of 
New England was jubilant until midnight. Philadel2:)hia Avas 
made equally merry. Maryland voted a portrait of Lord Camden 
for the State-house, for he had said in the House of Peers that 
"Taxation and representation are inseparable." Virginia resolved 
to decorate her old cajutal — Williamsburg — Avith a statue of the 
King ; South Carolina ordered a statue of the author of the repeal- 
ing Act for her only city ; and Xew York's joy and loyalty Avere 
displayed by A'oting to erect within the borders of the city a statue 
of both Pitt and the King. 

The statue of the King (equestrian) was set up in the BoAvling 
Green at the foot of Broadway. It was made of lead, and gilded. 
When the storm of the Revolution broke over the land, and the 
King had been denounced as "a tyrant unfit to be the ruler of a 
free peoi:)le," his statue Avas pulled doAvn and cast into bullets, and 
the "ministerial troops" soon afterward had "melted Majesty" fired 
at them. When that statue fell royal power was at an end in the 
colonies. They had just declared themseh'es "free and independ- 
ent States," and were fighting manfully imder the banner of that 
Union Avhich Avas formed in the Stamp Act Congress. 

Such was Robert R. Livingston, the filth er, and it will be seen, 
as stated, that he filled as important a part in the adA-ent stages of 
the Revolution, as his sons and daughters bore in and through the 



36 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

great -war for freedom. On the 5th of May, 1775, he wrote to his 
son Robert, (afterwards the Chancellor,) as follows : 

"My Dear Son : 

You, I suppose, are now on your way to Philadelphia, and Avill 
soon make one of that important body, which will engage the 
attention of all America, and a great part of Europe. May Heaven 
direct your counsels, to the good of the Avhole empire. Keep 
yourself cool on this important occasion ; from heat, and passion, 
prudent counsels can seldom proceed. It is yours to plan and 
deliberate, and whatever the Congress directs I hope will be exe- 
cuted with firmness, unanimity, and spirit. Every good man 
wishes that America may remain free. In this I join heartily ; at 
the same time I do not desire that we should be wholly independ- 
ent of the mother country. How to reconcile these jarring prin- 
ciples, I profess, I am altogether at a loss. The benefit we receive 
of protection, seems to require that we should contribute to the 
support of the Navy, if not to the Armies of Britain. I would 
have you consider, whether it would not be proper to lay hold of 
Lord North's overture, to open a negotiation and procure a suspen- 
sion of hostilities. In the meantime, the check General Gage has 
received, and our non-importation, will perhaps have a good effect 
in our favor on the other side of the water. This seems to be the 
thought of our counsel here, as Mr. Jay, and Mr. Livingston, will 
inform you. I should think, if you offered Britain all the duties 
usually paid here by our Merchants, even those paid since the 
disturbances began, those on tea excepted, which seems to be too 
odious, and all other duties they may think convenient to levy, for 
the regulation of trade, shall be lodged in the treasury of each 
colony, to be disposed of by their respective Assemblies, and 
Legislatures, on an engagement on their side that no other taxes 
shall be imposed on them but by their own representatives, we 
ought to be contented. Some specious offer should be made to 
increase our friends in England. This, or some other of that 
kind, if Lord North meant anything by his motion but to deceive 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 37 

the i:>eople of England, ought to put a stop to his proceedings for 
the present ; otherwise the odium he lies under must increase. 
The Boston charter, ought by all means to be restored, and were 
the tea paid for, as a doucem*, by the whole continent, it would be 
no matter. But this you will not insist on, unless you are Avell 
supported. These are my present thoughts ; however, judge for 
yourself, and unite by all means, for on this all depends. As to 
what relates to war, after agreeing on quotas, the manner of levying 
men and money, will I sujipose, be left to each colony. May God 
direct you in all things ; a dependence on him will inspire both 
wisdom and courage ; and if His Providence interfere in anything, 
as I firmly believe it does in all things, it certainly does in the rise 
and fall of nations. 

"Your most afi^ectionate father, 

"R. R. LIVINGSTON." 

P. S. — Inquire Avhether I can have a quantity of saltj^etre; I 
hear there is a large quantity imported at Philadelphia." 

The saltpetre, in this postscript, sought after, M'as for use in a 
powder mill, which the writer was then erecting, and in which 
his son John R., manufactured gunpowder during the Revolution. 
The following letter to Robert, dated June 19th, 1775, shows the 
proneness of Judge Livingston's views, and mentions his powder 
mill : 

"I conclude, fi-om the King's answer to the Lord Mayor, that if 
American liberty is maintained, it must be by the greatest exertion 
of our force, under the favor and direction of Providence. In this 
situation I am under no apprehension but from the enemies we 
have amongst ourselves ; a hearty and united opposition would 
render us to all appearance invincible. In this part of the country, 
we have many opposers, but still the whig interest appears to be 
growing ; committees have been, or will be, chosen in every part 
of Dutchess, but I believe there will be many who will not sign 
the association, and great ojiposition is made to the choosing of a 
committee in Rhinebeck. Cousin Robert found the Manor people 



38 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

uiuler arms, last Tuesday. About two tliirds signed tlic associa- 
tion, tlie rest are to consider it a fortnight, but many o})pose 
warmly. The Avhigs are predominant at least in Tryon, and if I 
can depend upon the information I have received, have sent depu- 
ties to the PI. Congress. I hear the adjourning of your Congress to 
Hartford, or Albany, has been mentioned. As the object of most 
consequence is union, the greater attention should be paid to the 
three counties, Albany, Charlotte, and Tryon. It seems to be 
absolutely necessary, that they should be in a state of defence. In 
this purpose, nothing could be more effectual than the Congress 
sitting in Albany. This would oblige all the Tories, as they are 
called, to join, to say nothing of its being one hundred and fifty 
miles nearer the seat of action. My powder mill will be set ago- 
ing, I hope, the beginning of next week. Mr. F 's conduct 

appears to me unaccountable. Does he, or does he not ajiprove 
of vigorous measures. I still expect much good from his counsels. 
I see by the genuine speech of Lord North, that he disdains treat- 
ing. I am convinced they don't know America yet. I don't 
wonder at it ; we are hardly yet ourselves apprised of the power 
we are able to exert, and that makes many afraid to join in the 
cause." ***«*«-* * * * 

One of Judge Livingston's most intimate friends, William Smith, 
the Historian, w\as accustomed to say : "If I Avere to be placed on 
a desert island, with but one book, and one friend, that book 
should be the Bible, and that friend Robert R. Livingston." 
Margaret Beekman survived her husband many years, and died in 
June, 1800, at Clermont. Her husband, the Judge, died in 1775, 
also buried at Clermont. She was a brave, lieroic and patriotic 
woman, and bore a noble part in the home life as one of the women 
of the American Revolution. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 89 



CHAPTER IV. 



LIVINGSTON MANOK. 



In the year 1710, Livingston's grants were consolidated, and 
Hunter, the Royal Governor, gave him a patent for a tract of land, 
as before stated, a little more than one hundred and sixty thousand 
acres, for which he was to pay into the King's treasury, an annual 
rent of twenty-eight shillings, lawful money of New York, a trifle 
over fourteen shillings sterling. This magnificent estate was con- 
stituted a Manor, with political privileges. The freeholders upon 
it were allowed a representation in the Colonial Legislatures, 
chosen by themselves, and in 1716 the Lord of the Manor, by 
virtue of that privilege, took his seat as a Legislator. He had 
already built a Manor House, to which the real title belongs, on a 
grassy sjiot upon the banks of the Hudson, environed vcith grape 
vines, bowers, and gigantic trees, at the mouth, and upon the 
north side of Roeleffe Jansen's Kill, which is now usually called 
Livingston Creek, of which house hardly a vestige now remains to 
mark the site. 

In the year above stated. Governor Hunter, by order of Queen 
Anne, bouglit of Mr. Livingston 6,000 acres of his Manor for the 
sum of a little more than £200, for the use of Protestant Germans, 
then in England, who had been driven from their homes, in the 
lower Palatinate of the Rhine, then the dominions of a cousin of 



40 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

the British Queen. About eighteen hundred of them settled 
upon the Manor lands, and also at a place upon the opposite side 
of the river, the respective localities being and still are known, as 
East and West Camp. The Lord of the Manor gave, by his will, 
the lower portion of his domain to his youngest son, Robert, as a 
reward, as previously stated, where he built a much finer stone 
mansion than the old Manor house, and named this Manor, Cler- 
mont. This, to distinguish it from the old House, was called "the 
lower Manor House." There Robert R. Livingston, Chancellor, 
was born, and after his marriage he built a mansion for himself a 
little south of the old Manor House. His zeal in the Republican 
cause, at the opening of the revolution, made him an arch rebel in 
the estimation of the British Ministry, and army, in America. 
When in the fall of 1777, General Vaughan at the head of the 
royal troops went up the Hudson, on a marauding expedition to 
produce a diversion in favor of Burgoyne, then environed by the 
American army at Saratoga, they proceeded up the river as far as 
Clermont, burnt Livingston's new house, and the old Manor 
House adjoining, where his widowed mother resided, and then re- 
treated to New York, after hearing of the bad news, to them, from 
Saratoga. 

Mrs. Livingston, immediately after, built another Mansion House 
upon the site of the old House, using the same side walls, which 
were of stone, and which remained firmly standing to rebuild 
upon. A lociist tree, still standing on the lawn at Clermont, is 
shown, whose limbs were removed by a cannon ball fired at the 
house from the British vessel, before a landing was made by the 
troops. This House is now occupied by a grandson of the Chan- 
cellor, Mr. Clermont Livingston, a most Avorthy representative of 
that noble old family. The Chancellor, or as the British called 
him, (the rebel,) erected a more elegant House for himself south 
of the ruins of the old one, that had been destroyed. This he also 
named Clermont. This Mansion, still standing, is most beautifully 
situated, and like all the fine villas of this neighborhood, com- 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 41 

mands a splendid view of the river, and the always changing, 
legendary Kaatsbergs. 

It was described as long ago as 1812, as one of the most com- 
modious houses in the State, having a river front of 104 feet, and 
a depth of 91 feet, and built in the form of a letter H — consisting 
of a main body of two stories, and four pavillions, in one of which 
the Chancellor had a fine library of over 4000 well chosen volumes. 
It was furnished in that olden time, with furniture and tapestries, 
imported expressly for it, from France by the Chancellor. 

His silver service was also magnificent, and said to have been 
worth at least from $20,000 to $30,000. The centre piece was 
valued at $3,000. The House is built in the French style of ar- 
chitecture, and has on three sides of it one of the most extensive 
lawns in this country. Downing thus describes this fine place : 

"On the banks of the Hudson the show place of the last age 
was the still interesting Clermont, then the residence of Chancel- 
lor Livingston. Its level or gently undulating lawn, a mile or 
more in length, the rich native woods, and the long vistas of plant- 
ed avenues, added to its fine water view, rendered this a noble 
place. The mansion, the green-houses and the gardens, show 
something of the French taste in design, which Mr. Livingston's 
long residence abroad, at the time when that mode was i^opular, 
no doubt led him to adopt. The finest specimens of the yellow 
locusts in America are now standing upon the pleasure grounds 
here." One of them measures sixteen feet in circumference, and 
most all are very large trees and form one of the many beauties of 
this fine old place. 

In thia House, and upon these grounds, was the grand reception 
given to Lafayette, upon his last visit to this Countiy, in 1824, 
when the lawn for half a mile was crowded with people, and the 
waters in front were white with vessels, freighted with visitors 

from the neighboring counties, and all the oupS| plates, ladies' 
6 



42 CLERMONT, GR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

gloves and slij^pers, bore tlie image, or name, of Lafayette. All 
that was most distinguished in the world of politics or of letters, 
in this country, used to be gathered under the shades of this fine 
rural retreat. Since that period, however, the place has occupied 
but a quiet space in the public eye. At the time of the grand 
reception it was occupied by Robert L. Livingston, who married 
one of Chancellor Livingston's two daughters, and Edward P. Liv- 
ingston married the other and occupied at this time the old Manor 
House adjoining. 

The Chancellor's place was purchased from the estate of Robert 
L. Livingston's son, Mr. Montgomery Livingston, by the Misses 
Clarkson, in 1858, who have put the old House in complete re- 
pair, and are always pleased to show it to the admirers of fine old 
rural homes, where beautiful views, magnificent lawns and fine old 
trees are appreciated, coupled with the queenly grace and welcome 
address of its present owners, offer the strongest inducements to 
make a visit to this hospitable Mansion, so renowned and linked 
as it is with the remembrances of past days, and of a joast age. 

Mrs. Julia M. Olin, in her work, the "Perfect Light," thus de- 
scribes Clermont and the appearance there of the British troops : 

"The summers were spent in their lovely home, beside which 
the broad Hudson rolled its abundant stream, and before which 
the Catskills rose up with their grand beauty. Locust trees shaded 
the lawn, while the terraced garden, gay with flowers, and rich in 
fruit, crept up the hill behind the house ; adjoining the place, and 
connected with it by a beautiful walk, w^as Chancellor Livings- 
ton's place, -with its superb lawns, stretching to the south and 
north, bounded by fine trees . War threw its shadows over this 
pleasant home. All Avere deeply interested in the war for Inde- 
pendence. The eldest son, Robert, departed for the first Congress 
at Philadelphia, and Montgomery left his fixir young wife, and 
home, for liis Northern Campaign, in which he lost his life, given 
^s a sacrifice upon the altar of his countiy, but won a name and 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 43 

fame immortal. His brother-in-law, Henry B. Livingston, accom- 
panied liim, while the father encouraged volunteering at home 
among his tenants, by offering special privileges to the families of 
those who should fall in the war. Many went forth to fight the 
battle of freedom," and 

"They left the ploughshare in the mold. 

Their flocks and herds without a fold, 

The sickle in the unshorn grain, 

The corn half garnered on the plain, 

And mustered in their simple dress, 

For wrongs to seek a stern redress. 

To right those wrongs, come weal come woe, 

To perish or o'ercome their foe. 

Oh few, and weak their numbers were, 
A handful of brave men, 

But to their God they gave their prayer, 
And rushed to battle then, — 

The God of battles heard their cry 

And sent to them the victory." 

At the close of 1775, while ]\Ii-s. Livingston and her daughters 
were at the dying bed of her honored father. Col. Henry Beekman, 
at Rhinebeck, the beloved husband and father at home was taken 
sick and died with a sudden attack of apoplexy, at the age of fifty- 
one. "My father died Avithout blessing me," he had been accus- 
tomed to remark, "and I shall die without blessing my children." 
And so for years they had never parted from him without a father's 
blessing. As trouble, they say, never comes singly, so whilst the 
family were suffering from this double bereavement, the heavy 
tidings arrived of the death of the hero who died in the front of 
battle, General Montgomery, at Quebec, Thus in the short space 
of three weeks three homes were made desolate. But this was 
not all, for even the quiet shades of Clermont, where so much 
natural beauty reigned, one would suppose, would be exempt from 
trouble, but even Clermont was not to be exempted from the sound 
and desolation of war, 



44 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

The aim of the British was to obtain, if possible, the entire 
possession of the Hudson River, and thus isolate New England 
from the rest of the States. To effect this much desired object, 
Bm-goyne, was to march from the North, and Vaughan from the 
South. There was intense excitement at Clermont when the news 
arrived of Burgoyne's surrender. Margaret, afterwards Mrs. 
Tillotson, was knitting a long stocking for an old family servant, 
which, for a wager, she was to finish in a day. It was near mid- 
night, the stocking was rapidly approaching its completion, when 
black Scipio rushed in with the joyful news of Burgoyne's surren- 
der. The stocking Avas at once thrown aside and the wager lost. 

The enemy, however, were steadily approaching from the South, 
lighting their way by burning towns and private dwellings. Cler- 
mont might have been untouched, as at that time two British 
officers, a wounded captain named Montgomery, and his Sm-geon, 
had been for some time very hospitably entertained by Mrs. Liv- 
ingston, at Clermont. They proposed to extend their protection 
to the house and family, but Mrs. Livingston and son both 
refused to have their property protected by the enemies of their 
country, and her son, the future Chancellor, sent them to the house 
of a Tory neighbor. The preparations for the quick departure of 
the family were made. All were busy. The females of the house- 
hold all giving a hand, to assist the general packing, for the 
removal of clothing and all movable valuables. Silver and other 
articles of value were bm-ied in the wood, books were placed in 
the basin of a dry fountain and covered with rubbish ; wagons and 
carts were piled up with baggage and all necessary articles requir- 
ed by so large a family, both for immediate use as well as preser- 
vation. Even at this hour, Mrs. Livingston burst into a hearty 
laugh, at the odd figiu-e of an old black woman perched upon this 
miscellaneous assortment of trunks and bundles. There was not 
much time to spare, for as the last load from the house had disap- 
peared, aud when the carriages containing the family had reached 
the top of the hill overlooking the house they beheld the smoke 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 45 

already arising from its walls. It had been fired as soon as enter- 
ed by the British soldiers, one party of whom had amved by 
land from Rhinebeck, which place they had burned, and another 
party landed from the British ship of war, which lay south of the 
point. 

Large looking-glasses had been carefully hung in an out-house, 
by the family before their departure, and an inside frame made to 
conceal them from view, but the soldiers discharged their muskets 
at the building and reduced to splinters the valuable mirrors. 
With heavy hearts the family left a home, endeared to them by all 
the associations which make a home one of cheerfulness, happi- 
ness and contentment. They took refuge in the town of Salisbu- 
ry, in Berkshire, just beyond the border of Massachusetts, where 
they made a temporary home, in a house which is still standing ; 
a stone house near a picturesque lake ; here they remained but a 
short time. The hasty retreat of Vaughan's forces rendering Cler- 
mont a safe residence again, Mrs. Livingston and her family re- 
turned to her farm house and at once commenced to rebuild the 
Mansion House, and in about a year removed into it. Whilst 
writing of Mrs. Livingston I will here give a letter written to her, 
by the Hon. John Jay in the year 1782, from Paris: 

"7b 3Irs. Margaret Livingston : 

Pakis, 26th August, 1782. 

"Dear Mada3i: — Your favour of the 21st of April, reached me 
the 18th of July last, and is the only letter I have as yet been 
honored with, from you, the one you allude to having miscarried ; 
I regi'et its loss, for I am persuaded it was a friendly one. 

"The first and only intelligence I have received of my father's 
death is contained in yours and Robert's letters. That event was 
not unexpected, but my long absence greatly increased the bitter- 
ness of it. From the day I left him I never ceased to regret 
that it was not in my power to soften his troubles, by those sooth- 
ing attentions, and returns of gratitude which he had a right to 



46 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

expect ; and which always make the most pleasing impressions on 
those by whom we have been the most highly obliged. His affec- 
tion for me was unbounded, and he knew how sensible I was of it. 
He has had severe trials, but they are over. I have lost in him an 
honest friend and a kind father, who never denied me anything, 
but from my youth Avas ever studious to anticipate my very wishes. 
Thank God there is another world in which we may meet and be 
happy. His being there is a new motive to my following his foot- 
steps. I assure you I know the value of Christian resignation ; 
it has been friendly to me on several occasions, which may, per- 
haps, one day furnish us with matter for conversation. I thank 
you most sincerely for reminding me of the great business and 
purpose of my life. Such admonitions, so given, are never 
unseasonable, and always kind. I am persuaded that they who 
have no regard for their own souls, will seldom have much for the 
happiness or interest of others ; and I have learned to exj^ect no 
sincere attachment, from those whose principles of action are cre- 
ated by occasional convenience. These reflections afford a test for 
professions, and that test tells me to believe yours to be real, and 
to rely upon it accordingly. The regard and good opinion of the 
good, yield rational pleasure, and I value this ground of satisfac- 
tion too highly to omit any opportunity of cultivating it. I rejoice 
in Robert's good health, and in that of his daughter ; I believe 
every syllable you say of her temper and disposition, for unless by 
supposing some perverse cross, it would be difficult to account for 
her having a bad one. I should be happy if this blessing Avere to 
be soon followed by that of a son, equally promising ; for Clare- 
mont has my best wishes, that it may administer affluence to a 
long succession of wise and good possessors. 

"You ask me when we shall meet ? I wish it Avas in my power 
to answer this question with certainty, but it is not ; all I can say 
is, that one of my first wishes, is to return, and to spend my days 
with a brother and sister whom I tenderly love, and whose afflic- 
tions I earnestly desire to alleviate by every proof of fraternal 



CLERMONT, 0R LIVINGSTON MANOR. 47 

affection. It might, jDerhaps, be in my power to pass a more 
splendid and easy life on this, than on that side of the water, 
where the wrecks of the fortunes of the family afford no very 
flattering prospects. But as personal considerations ought to have 
no influence, I adhere to my first determination, that the term of 
my absence shall depend entirely on public convenience, which 
in my opinion, will not detain me longer than until the conclusion 
of the treaties, which are to terminate the war, Mrs. Jay assures 
you of her affection and respect ; be pleased to present our com- 
pliments and best wishes to your good family, and believe me to 
be Dear Madam, 

"With sincere esteem and attachment, 

Your most obedient and very humble servant, 

"JOHN JAY." 



48 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER V. 

BIUTII AND YOUTH OF ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON, (CHANCELLOR.) 

We have sketched the lives of the Judge, and his wife ; we will 
now enter upon the life of their eldest son, Robert R., the Chan- 
cellor. Judge Livingston and his wife were blessed by a most 
remarkable group of children, four sons and six daughters, all of 
whom, when married, settled upon the banks of the Hudson, 
extending from Staatsburgh to Clermont. The oldest and young- 
est sons were prominent as statesmen, Robert R. and Edward. 

Robert R. Livingston was born in the city of New York, on the 
27th day of November, 1746, and in the record in the old family 
Bible it is written under the above heading : "The Lord bless and 
be with hira. Amen." And no man was ever more blessed than 
he, both in public and private life. He was educated by the best 
teachers of the period, and afterwards at King's, (now Columbia,) 
College, then under the Presidency of Myles Cooper, of Revolu- 
tionary celebrity, where he graduated at the early age of eighteen, 
in 1764. Upon that occasion he delivered a stirring oration, in 
praise of liberty, in Which he had given the eVery day sentiment 
of his family and friends, who in a few years from that date formed 
the head and life blood of the young Republic struggling for 
Freedom. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 49 

The New York Gazette, of May 30th, 1764, has an article on 
young Livingston's oration, as follows : "In particular, Mr. Liv" 
ingston, whose oration in praise of liberty was received with 
general and extraordinary approbation, and did great honor to his 
judgment and abilities in the choice of his subject, the justice and 
sublimity of his sentiments, the elegance of his style, and the 
graceful propriety of his j^ronunciation and gesture ; and many of 
the audience pleased themselves with the hopes that the young 
orator may prove an able and zealous asserter, and defender, of the 
rights and liberties of his country, as well as an ornament to it." 

About three years or so after this, when Robert was home at his 
father's, the old homestead at Clermont, on a short visit, the follow- 
ing incident occurred. His brother Edward, the then baby of the 
family, as he was only five or six years of age at the time, had for 
his first teacher a Clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church, and 
of Dutch ancestry, known by the name of Dominie Doll. He was 
a widower with only one child, a daughter, who was a young lady 
of gay and sprightly manner, full of frolic and good nature. With 
this daughter the Dominie lived for some time in the family of 
Judge Livingston, as tutor for the young children. One day as 
Robert was leaving home for Albany, he inquired of the Dominie's 
daughter, Miss Doll, in his characteristically friendly, gallant man- 
ner, "Well, Miss Doll, Avhat shall I bring back for you from 
Albany T "A good husband," was the lively reply. "Agreed," 
replied the future Chancellor ; and it happened that he really did 
bring back with him, as a guest, a gentleman who in due time 
married the Dominie's daughter, and they afterward lived a happy 
life together at Kinderhook, I presume she ever after thought 
"that there's many a true word spoken in jest." 

Robert studied law under William Smith, the Historian of New 
York, and afterwards in the office of his relative, William Living- 
ston, the distinguished Governor of New Jersey. In October, 
1773, he was admitted to the bar, and worked hard, becoming 

7 



a« CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

very eminent in his profession, and for a sliort time was in 
partnership with his intimate friend, Jolm Jay. Soon after this he 
was appointed Recorder of his native city, and soon became an 
early opponent of British oppression, taking a very active part in 
politics. The Revolution found him in the above position, so that 
both father and son relinquished at the same time important judi- 
cial stations, to take part with their fellow patriots in the libera- 
tion of their country. But amidst all his duties Robert found time 
for courtship, for we find that upon the 9th day of September, 
1770, at Hunterdon, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, at the resi- 
dence of the Hon. John Stevens, he was married to Miss Elizabeth 
Stevens, daughter of the above. Upon which occasion were gath- 
ered all the relatives and friends of both families, called together 
to witness the bridal ceremony, which always occasions those hap- 
py re-unions of members of a large family, that meet but seldom ; 
and for once, at least, all the gentlemen and ladies of the Manor, 
like the birds in Autumn, had migrated southward. 

Two daughters were the fruits of their union. Their first 
daughter, Elizabeth Stevens, was born at Hunterdon, the seat of 
the Hon. John Stevens, on the 5th day of May, 1780. This 
daughter afterwards married in the year 1800, Edward P. Living- 
ston, and she died June 10th, 1827, leaving two sons and three 
daughters. 

Their second daughter, Margaret Maria, was born in the city of 
Philadelphia on the 11th day of April, 1783. She was married 
in the year 1799, to Robert L. Livingston, and died March 8th, 
1818, leaving three sons and five daughters. 

Tlie trying question of the rights of the British Parliament, in 
which we were unrepresented, to impose exactions on our citizens 
then first began to be agitated, and the subject of this memoir, as 
well as his illustrious father, were both ejected (as I have before 
stated,) from their ofticial stations ; the latter as one of the Justices 
of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, for adherence to the rights of 



,CLERMONT, OR LI KINGSTON MANOR. 51 

their countrymen. It Avas early predicted that these rights could 
be successfully asserted only by the SAVord ; but remonstrance 
after remonstrance, petition after petition, was presented to a 
m inistry attentiAe only to their passions and heedless of the rights 
of others. The colonies, separated from one another by a thous- 
and feelings and prejudices, soon exhibited a united resolution to 
resist these pretensions Avith manly effort. 

The official stations of Mr. LiAdngston did not prevent his join- 
ing the great body of his countrymen, in resisting claims so 
unjust and oppressive. In return for royal persecution Mr. Liv- 
ingston Avas reAvarded by popular favor, and the confidence of his 
country. In this Avar of principle noAV commencing, Massachu- 
setts, NeAV York and Virginia, represented not imperfectly th« 
entire population of the American Colonies. The first Avas settled 
by emigrants chiefly from England, puritans in religion and in 
politics ; Virginia Av^as colonized by ana dventurous population, 
Avho transferred Avith them the rights and feelings of Englishmen. 
The central colonies, of Avhicli Ncav York Avas the fairest represen- 
tative, had emigrated from Holland, Avhich preceded even the 
English, in the assertion and vindication of the rights of con- 
science, and even during a struggle of eighty years Avafted their 
commerce to every region of the earth. 

This various population united for the most part in one spon- 
taneous spirit of opposition to the claims of Parliament. Yet in 
NcAV York, her magnificent but unprotected harbor and frontier 
exposed to the depredations of the ruthless savage, laid her open 
to the naval force of Great Britain, and paralyzed for a time the 
efforts of her patriots. Virginia Avas foremost in resisting the 
odious Stamp Act, Avliich, under a deceitful vizor, concealed the 
arroAV of destruction. In Boston the fatal poison lurked in the tea 
chest. In the vicinity of that toAvn the blood of Englishmen and 
Americans first mingled in hostile conflict. The names of George 
Clinton, John Jay, Philip Schuyler, and Robert R, Livingston, 



52 CLERMONTj OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

are sufficient evidence that this State was not behind her ekler 
sisters in devoted ardor and patriotism, Tliese noble champions 
of our cause justly deemed their power and influence pledges 
of fidelity to the people, which it required their highest eflbrts to 
redeem. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 53 



CHAPTER VI. 

FROM 1774-6 AND DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

The Delegates from the Colony of New York to the first Con- 
tinental Congi-ess in 1774, were not chosen by the General Assem- 
bly, but by the suffrage of the j)eople, manifested in some 
sufficiently authentic shape in the several counties. The Dele- 
gates to the second Continental Congress, which met in May, 
1775, were chosen by the Provincial Congress, which the people 
of the colony had already created, and which was held in April of 
that year, and had virtually assumed the powers of the govern- 
ment. The delegates from this colony, New York, to this second 
Congress, were John Jay, John Alsop, James Duane, Philip 
Schuyler, George Clinton, Lewis Morris, and Robert R. Livings- 
ton, and the weight of their talents and character may be inferred 
from the fact that Mr. Jay, Mr. Duane, Mr. Schuyler, and Mr. 
Livingston, were early placed upon the Committees charged with 
the most arduous and responsible duties. 

We find Washington and Schuyler associated together in the 
Committee appointed on the 14th of June, 1775, to prepare rules 
and regulations for the government of the army. "This associa- 
tion of those great men, commenced at such a critical moment, 
was the beginning of a mutual confidence, respect, and adiiiiration 



54 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

which continued with uninterrupted and unabated vividness during 
tlie remainder of their lives. An alhision is made to this friend- 
ship in the memoir of a former President of this society, and the 
allusion is remarkable for its strength and pathos. After mention- 
ing General Schuyler, he adds : 'I have 2)laced thee, my friend, by 
the side of him who knew thee ; thy intelligence to discern, thy 
zeal to promote thy country's good, and knowing thee, prized thee- 
Let this be thy eulogy, I add, and with truth peculiarly thine, con- 
tent it should be mine to have expressed it.' 

"The Congress of this Colony, during the years 1775 and 1776, 
had to meet difficulties and changes almost sufficient to subdue the 
firmest resolution. The population of the colony was short of 
200,000 souls. It had a vast body of disaffected inhabitants within 
its own bosom. It had numerous tribes of hostile Indians on its 
extended frontier. The bonds of society seemed to have been 
broken up, and society itself resolved into its primitive elements. 
There was no civil government but such as had been introduced 
by the Provincial Congress and County Committees, as tempor- 
ary expedients. It had an enemy's province in the rear strength- 
ened by large and well appointed forces. It had an open and 
exposed seaport, without adequate means to defend it. In the 
Summer of 1776 the State was actually invaded, not only upon 
our Canadian but upon our Atlantic frontier by a formidable fleet 
and army, calculated by the power that sent them to be sufficient 
to annihilate at once all our infiint Republics." 

Robert R. Livingston was one of the leading spirits of those 
days ; being a man of rare ability and accomplishments, he 
took a leading part in the debates in the Congress, both of 1775 
and 1776, and he was placed as one of the Committee to prepare 
and report a plan of confederation for the colonies. He was also 
one of the Committee of five appointed to draw up and prepare the 
Declaration of Independence. This Committee was instructed by 
Congress to draw up a declaration in accordance witli a resolution 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 65 

oiFered June 7th, by Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia. Thomas 
Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and 
Robert R. Livingston formed the Committee. 

The Declaration of Independence Avas drawn up by Jefferson, 
assisted by the others of the Committee, and on the 4th of July, 
1776, was adopted by Delegates of all the thirteen Colonies. 
They thus declared themselves free and independent, assuming the 
name of the United States of America. The Declaration was 
received with demonstrations of great public and private rejoic- 
ings ; it was hailed with delight when read in the Churches, the 
Courts, the Taverns, Stores, and wherever a gatliering of people 
could be collected together. It was read from a platform in the 
rear of the State House. 

There hung an old bell in the tower of old Independence Hall, 
Philadelphia. It had been cast in England a hundred years or 
more before the revolution. On it was the following inscription 
or words, from the Bible : "Proclaim liberty throughout all the 
land, unto all the inhabitants thereof" Very significant words, a 
true prophecy about to be fulfilled. On the day, and at the hour 
the signatures were to be attached to this important paper, an old 
man stood with bell rope ready in hand. The delegates were all 
assembled in the hall below, preparing to sign the Declaration to 
bind themselves for freedom or death, with lives, fortunes and 
their sacred honor. A boy stood near the delegates by the table 
to run out and call to the old man to ring the bell as soon as the 
last delegate had signed. 

As I have said, the old man stood ready, doubtless with tremb- 
ling, earnest, breathless attention. The last signer took up the pen, 
subscribed his name, threw down the pen upon the table. The deed 
was done, "the Rubicon was crossed." The boy quickly ran out 
into the street and called out to the old man, '■^H'm.g." The old 
gray-beard pulled with all his might and the old bell proclaimed 
"Liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof," 



56 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

I need not dwell for n moment upon the awful responsibility 
assumed by our representatives. Suffice it to say, that as when the 
elder Brutus annoimced to the Roman people the outrage commit- 
ted by Tarquin, and invoked their bravery and patriotism, our 
virtuous ancestors responded to the call, and with their hearts and 
votes united in pledging their lives and fortunes to maintain their 
sacred rights. When, at the recommendation of Congress, each 
State proceeded to frame a constitution of government, Mr. Liv- 
ingston was elected a member of the Convention of New York, 
and was the chairitian of the Committee who presented the draft 
of that instrument, which, as subsequently adopted, formed an era 
in Legislation, and may be fairly pronounced the most judicious 
scheme of polity then known to the world. 

In that immortal Congress of 1776, Robert R. Livingston 
represented the feelings and interests of the peoj^le of the State of 
New York, and in that consecrated assembly his zeal and patriot- 
ism were universally acknowledged. The persevering efforts of 
the crown, against the rights of the people, produced that memor- 
able declaration of the freemen of the colonies to dissolve forever 
all political connection with the parent country. Philip Livings- 
ton, Judge Livingston's cousin, was one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, and Robert R., although one of 
its chief advocates and framers, was prevented from signing, being 
called home to attend to duties in New York, in the Provincial 
Congi-ess, of which he was a member. So he had not the good 
fortune to place his signature to that instrument. He thus lost 
the opportunity of being enrolled in popular biographies as "one 
of the signers." 

It was one of the regrets of Mrs. Montgomery's life that her 
brother was prevented from being a signer. He was, however, 
rendering most important service in the Provincial Congress, in 
preparation for the defence of the Hudson, which had engaged his 
attention on his first appearance at Philadelphia. Great rejoicings 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 67 

were "throughout all the States at the signing of the Declaration. 
On board of the frigate Washington, in the Delaware, the festivi-^ 
ties terminated with a ball in the evening. The Declaration was 
read at the head of each brigade in the Continental army station- 
ed at New York, and was received with joyful huzzas. On the 
same day all the imprisoned debtors were released ; and in the 
evening the equestrian statue of George III, raised in the Bowling 
Green, New York, in 1770, was thrown down. It was resolved 
that the lead of which it was composed should be melted into 
bullets and fired at the enemies of liberty. 



58 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER VII. 

FIRST STATE COXA^ENTION OF 1777 AND ADOPTION OF STATE 
CONSTITUTION. 

After the adoijtion of tlie Declaration of Independence of 177G, 
the General Assembly of the State of New York changed its title 
from Provincial Congress of the Colony of New York, to that of 
the Congress of Representatives of the State of New York. This 
first Convention of the Representatives of this State, having been 
elected to meet in the city of New York on July 8th, 1776, but 
for fear of being disturbed by the British army under Lord Howe, 
held adjourned sessions at White Plains, Harlem, Philipses Manor, 
Fishkill, and at last at Esopus, or what is now called Kingston, 
which then had a population of about thirty-five hundred souls, 
and was the third town in number of population in the Colony. 

The object of tlie session was the forming of a State Constitu- 
tion. At the first meeting, at White Plains, the Convention 
received the intelligence of the adoption of the Declaration of 
Independence, and its first action was to approve that measure by 
unanimous vote. A committee was formed to draw up and rei)ort 
a Constitution for this State to the Convention. Tlie following 
members were a^jpointed upon the above connnittec : John Jay, 
Robert R. Livingston, John Sloss Ilobert, William Smith, William 
Duer, Gouvprneur Morris, John Broome, John Morris Scott, 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 59 

Abraham Yates, Jr., Henry Wisner, Sr., Samuel Towusend, 
Charles DeWitt, and Robert Yates. James Duane was after- 
wards placed upon the committee. It was submitted, or present- 
ed to the Assembly by Mr. John Jay, in which Mr. Jay bore 
so prominent a part. Robert R. Livingston introduced into the 
above instrument the section creating the Council of Revision, a 
body comi^osed of the Governor, Chancellor, and Judges of the 
Supreme Com*t, which sat to revise all bills about to be passed into 
laws, by the Legislature, and of which he himself became a promi- 
nent member. The Court existed till it was abolished by the 
Convention of 1823, and its power lodged solely in the hands of 
the Governor, by the Constitution of that year. 

On the 20th April, 1777, the first Constitution was adopted. 
Robert R. Livingston was at the time but thiiiy-one years of age, 
and was a consi^icuous member of this body. He performed the 
labor of revising the draxaght of that instrument, not by any 
means an easy task, but one Avhich required a man of large mind 
to accomplish. The new Constitution, adopted after an able, 
patriotic and deliberate discussion, was at last hurriedly printed 
and published to the State. It was printed in the old town of 
Fishkill, and read as a proclamation at Esojius, in front of the old 
Court House, to Avhat Avas considered in those days quite a gather- 
ing of people. It was read by the Secretary of the Convention. 

Other duties of a more active though not more responsible 
character, engaged Mr. Livingston's attention, as member of the 
Council of Safety, by which body he Avas charged with military 
powers, to aid General Schuyler on the Northern and Western 
frontiers, as well as for the protection of the Hudson River. 

When the State Convention met at Fishkill, the members all 
armed themselves, for defence against the British, or Tories, who^ 
.should attempt to assail them. Esopus afterAvards became the 
Capitol of this State, in those days of terror. The first Governor 
and the first Legislature ever elected in this State, met there in 



60 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

September. They boarded in the stone and frame farm houses 
and inns of the vicinity, and had plenty to employ them through 
all those autumnal days. The Constitution adopted there and 
revised by Mr. Livingston, is a document of great merit, and 
English jurists all gave it praise, and it was highly ajiproved of 
throughout this country. As stated, with but slight amendments, 
the first constitution continued in force until 1823, when a new 
one was formed by a State Convention, and a third was made and 
became a law, in 1846. 

The Governor, we have mentioned, Avho was elected in 1777, 
and with the Legislature held their first meeting at Esopus, was 
George Clinton. Elections had been held in all the counties of 
this State, except New York, Kings, Queens and Sufi'olk, which 
were then held in possession by the enemy. Pierre Van Court- 
landt, who was President of the Senate, became Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor ; John Jay, Chief Justice ; Robert Yates, and John Sloss 
Hobert, Judges of the Supreme Court ; Egbert Benson, Attorney 
General. 

Lossing, in his great work, "The Field Book of the Kevolution," 
thus describes the attack of the British upon Kingston and the 
upper Hudson, in 1777. "Kingston or (Esopus,) being the 
Capitol of the State, when Sii* Henry Clinton gained possession of 
the forts in the Hudson Highlands, was marked by the conqueror 
for special vengeance. Having demolished the Chevaux-de-frise 
at Fort Montgomery, the British fleet proceeded up the Hudson. 
The massive iron chain was then not yet stretched across the 
river at West Point, and all impediments being removed, a flying 
squadron of light frigates, under Sir James Wallace, bearing three 
thousand six hundi-ed men, under the command of General Vaugh- 
an, sailed up the river. They were instructed to scatter desola- 
tion in their track, and well did they perform their mission. 

"Every vessel upon the river was burned or otherwise destroyed ; 
bouses of kiio\yn \yhigs, such as Henry Livingston, at Poughkeep- 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 61 

sie, were fired upon from the shijjs, and small parties landing from 
the vessels desolated neighborhoods with fire and sword. They 
jjenetrated as far north as Kingston, where they landed on the 
13th of October. The frigates were anchored a little above the 
present landing of Kingston Point, and a portion of the invaders 
debarked in the cove, north of the steamboat Avharf ; another 
division in small boats proceeded to the mouth of Esopus, now 
Rondout Creek, and landed at a j^lace a little north-east of Ron- 
dout Village, called Ponkhocken Point. The people at the Creek 
fled affrighted to Marbletown, seven miles south-west of Kingston, 
and their houses was destroyed. The two divisions then marched 
towards the village, one by the upper road and one by the Esopus 
creek road, near the house of Mr. Yeoman, who was in the Ameri- 
can army, at Stilhvater" 

They set fire to this house, but the flames were subdued by a 
negro woman. They forced a negro man here to show them the 
nearest way to the town. The two columns of the enemy joined 
together upon a hill in sight of the town, and after a few hours 
halt proceeded to Kingston, where they fired every house in the 
town, which, together with a large quantity of provisions there, 
and at the wharves, was destroyed. The town was built mostly of 
rough stone, in the old lashioned style of rubble stone and mortar. 
(Many of thisCkind of houses are yet standing in this vicinity, 
Clermont, N. Y.) 

The inhabitants fled, taking Avith them what valuables they 
could save in their flight, which of course was but few. There 
were between three and four thoiisand inhabitants (many wealthy,) 
of Kingston, in those days. The Governor and Legislature of the 
State were there at the time, and they endeavored to raise a num,- 
ber of Militia to protect them, but they failed to do so. 

The enemy remained no longer than to burn the town and to 
inflict all the wanton damage they could upon the property 
owners in it, and upon the highways in the neighborhood, and 



62 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

returned to the shij^s. They sent one vessel up the Hudson on an 
expedition of dcstniction, and a detachment of troops crossed the 
river and marched to Rliinebeck, where they burned many dwell- 
ings, and then proceeded northAvard on the river road as far as 
Chancellor Livingston's and his mother's residences, which they 
burned, as related in a previous chapter. Here the work of 
destruction was stopped by their receiving the news of the sun-en- 
der of General Burgoyne to General Gates, at Saratoga, Avhicli 
news defeated their j^lan of joining their forces Avitli the expected 
southward victorious army of Burgoyne. 

So at Clermont they, with heavy hearts, all sorroAvfully embark- 
ed in the vessel anchored off the point, and sailing down the river, 
rejoined the fleet at Esopus Creek, from which place the Avhole 
squadron sailed back to New York, having done much damage to 
the Patriots, but also having done much more damage to the 
cause of King George, as it kindled the spark of revenge in every 
American bosom, and adding fuel to the flame, made them only 
the more determined to resist the British power. Mr. Livingston, 
although deprived of a house for a time, thought not of this, but 
labored with the rest of his fellow countrymen with renewed vigor 
for freedom, and his gifted mind was ever working out some new 
plan to bring about this most desired result." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 63 



CHAPTER yill. 

THE CONGRESS OF 1778 AND ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. MR. 

LIVINGSTON APPOINTED SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 

On June 22d, 1778, Congress proceeded to consider the various 
objections of the States to the Articles of Confederation, and on tlie 
27tli day of June a form of ratification was adopted and ordered 
to be written upon parchment, with the order tliat it shoukl be 
signed by those delegates appointed so to do by their respective 
Legislatures. On the 9th of July, 1778, the delegates of New 
Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina, signed the articles. 

The delegates from New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, had 
not the power to sign given them at that date by their several 
Legislatures. Georgia and North Carolina were not represented, 
and the ratification of New York was conditional that all the other 
States should likewise ratify. 

The delegates from North Carolina signed on the 2l8t day of 
July, those of Georgia on the 24th day of July, New Jersey on the 
26th of November, Delaware on the 22d of February, 1779. Mary- 
land still firmly refused to ratify until the question of the conflict- 
ing claims of the Union and of the separate States to the crown 
lands, should be fully adjusted. This point was finally settled by 
cesslops of the plaiming States to the United States, of all the 






64 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

unsettled and unappropriated lands for the benefit of the whole 
Union. This cession of the crown lands to the Union originated 
the territorial system, and the erection of the North Western Terri- 
tory into a distinct government, similar to the existing States, 
having a local Legislature of its own. 

The insuperable objection of Maryland having been removed 
by the settlement of this question, her delegates signed the articles 
of confederation on the 1st day of March, 1781, four years and 
four months after they were adojited by Congress. By this act 
of Maryland they became the original law of the Union, and on 
the 2d of March Congress assembled under the new powers. 

A few weeks previous to the final ratification of the articles of 
confederation. Congress made a new arrangement in the machinery 
of the civil government. A foreign bureau was established equiva- 
lent in its functions to our present Department of State, the head 
of which was styled, "Secretary of Foreign Affiiirs." A financial 
bureau was also established and a Secretary of the Treasury, called 
Superintendent of Finance, was aj^pointed. Secretaries of War 
and Marine were also appointed, and under the power of the con- 
federation, new energy was manifested in the management of 
affairs. 

It was in 1781 that Mr. Robert R. Livingston, of New York, 
was appointed the first Foreign Secretary, and Robert Morris, of 
Philadelphia, the first Superintendent of Finance. Robert R. Liv^ 
ingston had in his office two under Secretaries, Louis R. Morris, 
and Peter S. Duponceau, and two Clerks, John Stone, afterwards 
Governor of Maryland, and Henry Remsen, of New York, to assist 
him. Reverend Mr. Tetard, of Philadelphia, was the translator. 

The office, for the transaction of business, was a building on the 
eastern side of South-Sixth Street, No. 13, three stories in height, 
with only twelve feet front. From that humble edifice went forth 
instructions which arrested the attention of European diplomatists, 
and turned their minds with astonishment to the rising nation in 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 65 

the "west. This office of Secretary of Foreign Afiairs, filled by 
Robert R. Livingston, was witliont doubt the most important that 
could be held nnder the Confederacy. The Secretary conducted 
all foreign correspondence, as well as that with the States. 
Tlirough him passed all instructions to Ministers abroad. It was 
his duty to prepare plans of treaties, to make reports to Congress, 
and to lay before them such information as he considered 
necessary. 

This office, after being resigned by Mr. Robert R. Livingston, 
was afterwards filled by Mr. John Jay. Mr. Livingston resigned, 
as he had received the appointment of Chancellor of the State of 
New York. He served as Secretary of Foreign Affiiirs from 1781 
to 1783, when upon retii'ing from that office he received the thanks 
of Congress, and an assui'ance of the high sense they entertained 
of his ability, zeal, and fidelity, and also the great diligence, 
promptness, and impartiality, with which he discharged the impor- 
tant trusts rejDosed in him. The diplomatic coiTespondence of the 
revolutionary war may be here referred to as documentary testi- 
mony to his cabinet services in our great contest. 

Watson, in his "Annals of the City of Philadelphia," thus 

describes the old building wherein were the offices of the Foreign 

Secretary. "At No. 13, South-Sixth Street, Philadelphia, stood 

the ancient edifice, on the premises of the late P. S. Duponceau, 

Esq., now demolished, and fine stores now occupy the site. It is a 

house appropriately owned by such a possessor, (Duponceau,) for 

in it, he who came as a volunteer to join our fortunes and aid our 

cause, as a Captain under Baron Steuben, became afterward one of 

the under Secretaries to our Minister of Foreign Affiiirs, and in 

that building gave his active and early service. In the year 1782 

-83, under that humble roof, presided as our then Secretary of 

Foreign Affiiirs, the Honorable Robert R. Livingston. Up staii-s in 

the small front room facing the street sat that distinguished 

personage wielding by his mind and pen the destinies of our 
9 



QQ CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

nation. In the adjoining back room sat the two under Secreta- 
ries, Louis R. Morris, since Governor of Vermont, and our vene- 
rated citizen, Mr. Duj^onceau. These, having charge of the 
archives of the nation, preserved them all within the enclosure of 
a small wooden press. The only room down stairs on the ground 
floor was that occupied by the two clerks and the interpreter. 
One of these clerks, Mr. Henry Remsen, was afterward the Presi- 
dent of a Bank in New York. Mr. Tetard was the pastor of the 
French Reformed Church, in Philadelpliia. The house at that 
time was quite beyond the verge of city population, now the site 
is about the centre of business." 

Robert R. Livin^ton, when appointed Chancellor of the State 
of New York, in Mi83^ was the first person who had ever held 
that ofiice. (There have been five Chancellors of this State up to 
this date.) He continued in this highest legal distinction in the 
State until his mission to France in 1801. For his ability and 
fidelity in the discharge of his judicial duties, I leave it to the 
learned members of the profession to answer. No published docu- 
ments record the evidences of his laborious researcli and accurate 
discrimination. 

But a most distinguished successor of his has asserted, "That 
the august tribunal whose justice he dispensed, though since 
covered with a halo of glory, never has boasted a more prompt, 
more able, or more faithful officer. When at length the valor of 
our ancestors had borne them successfully through the revolution- 
ary contest, and redeemed those pledges which had been ofliered 
on the altar of their country, another and still more arduous task 
remained. In vain had our patriots moistened the soil with their 
blood, had our countrymen been left the victims to their own tor- 
menting feuds and passions." 

In no public employment involving important deliberations does 
Chancellor Livingston seem to have been overlooked. He was in 
the State Commission with Jay and others, relative to the disputed 



CLERMONT, OR LI7INGST0N MANOR. 67 

rights of Massachusetts and New York as to western territory, and 
when two years later, in 1786, the Convention at Annapolis was 
proposed for the considei'ation of some national regulation of trade 
and commerce, he was appointed a delegate with Hamilton, 
Benson, and Duane. He was not, however, present at this meet- 
ing, more important in its sequel than for what it accomplished. 
There Hamilton and Madison met together, and out of their joint 
deliberations with their fellow members, grew the Convention of 
the succeeding year for the formation of the Constitution. Liv- 
ingston Avas not a member of this body, but sat at the State Rati- 
fication Convention, where he voted for the adoption. 

In 1787, Chancellor Livingston was called u^ion to deliver the 
Fourth of July discourse before the New York State Society of the 
Cincinnatti. It is an elegant production, written with warmth and 
feeling, occupied not w^itli the customary eulogies of the day, 
but with the consideration of the practical working of the Confed- 
eration, which gave birth to the Declaration of Independence. 

It was the season, it will be remembered, before the meeting of 
the Federal Convention, a dark moment of our political history 
preceding the second dawn — "another morning risen on mid-day." 
Disappointment he freely admits in respect both to "our internal 
and Federal Governments ; either, to those Avho are disposed to 
view only the gloomy side of the picture, will afford sufficient mat- 
ter for censure, and too much cause for uneasiness. Many 
desponding spirits, misled by these reflections, have ceased to 
rejoice in independence, and to doubt whether it is to be consider- 
ed as a blessing." 

Turning from the constitutional methods of government in 
operation in the States, which he finds to lack only proper consid- 
eration on the part of the people, he turns to the Federal Admin* 
istration. "Nothing presents itself to my view, but a nerveless 
council, united by imaginary ties, — brooding over ideal decrees, 



68 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON JIANOR. 

which caprice or fancy is at pleasure to annul or execute. I see 
trade languish, public credit expire, and that glory which is not 
less necessary to the prosperity of a nation than reputation to 
individuals, a victim to opprobrium and disgrace, and who will 
deny that the most serious evils daily flow from the debility of our 
Federal Constitution ? 

"Who but owns that we are at this moment colonies, for every 
purpose but that of internal taxation, to the nation fi'om which 
we vainly hoped our sword had freed us ? Who but sees with 
indignation British ministers daily dictating laws for the destruc- 
tion of our commerce ? Who but laments the ruin of that brave, 
hardy, and generous race of men, who are necessary for its sup- 
port? Who but feels that we are degi-aded from the rank we 
ought to hold among the nations of the earth ; despised by some, 
maltreated by others, and unable to defend ourselves against the 
cruel depi-edations of the most contemptible pirates." (The last 
alhision is to the Barbary Powers.) He concludes with an apj^eal 
to his fellow patriots to reject the trammels of party, and unite 
their eiforts in the common cause. 

What noble names Avere at the head of the Government in those 
days ; R. K. Livingston, Chancellor ; John Jay, Secretary of 
Foreign Affairs ; Henry Knox, Secretary of War ; George Clin- 
ton, Governor of the State of New York ; Philip Schuyler, Sena- 
tor ; James Duane, Mayor of New York. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 69 



CHAPTER IX. 

POLITICAL PARTIES, 1783-9, AND FEDEKAL CONSTITUTION. 

During the period that elapsed between the condusion of peace 
in 1783, and the formation of the Constitution in 1787, the ques- 
tion upon which parties in this State were divided was this : 
"What rights have Tories in these States ? Shall we Whigs, after 
seven years of war, deem them yet as our enemies, or as misguided 
citizens *? Shall past ill feelings be kept up, and cherished, or shall 
the victors say, "Let by-gones be by-gones," and hold out the olive 
branch and give again the hand of friendship ? 

The country was thus divided into three parties ; first the Tories, 
who yet seemed to think that England would again try to regain 
her lost colonies ; others who thought they would enjoy the same 
eminence they had in the colonies before the war, and others who 
had been disfranchised, now sued for a restoration of their estates. 
All of the above formed quite a strong party, and were for grant- 
ing the Tories all the rights and privileges of citizenship. 

The second party w^ere the Whigs, who had stood hand and 
hand together during the long war for independence ; had suffered 
greatly in property destroyed, fortune lost, friends killed and 
wounded, and had seen that veiy struggle prolonged by those 



70 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

same Tories, and had learned to hate a Tory, even more tlian a 
British soldier. These men thought, and wisely, that their free- 
dom had been dearly enough j^urchased, without sharing the 
benefits derived with the past enemies of freedom. 

The third party might be called tlie Conservative party, or a 
class of men that did not take the extreme or radical side with 
either of the foregoing parties, either to punish or pardon, and 
were for giving the Tories their rights in the country who Avere 
sorry or repentant for their past misdeeds. As there Avere three 
parties, so likewise, there were three groups of leaders or partisans. 

First, there Avere the Clintons, Avith Governor George Clinton, 
of this State, as leader. He had been elected Governor, succes- 
sively, for eighteen years. He AA'as elected first in 1777. The 
Clintons at that time were not A^ery numeroias or Avealthy. 
DeWitt Clinton, a nephcAV of the Governor, Avas a student in 
Columbia College at that period. The Clintons emigrated to this 
country in 1710. 

The next leaders Avere the Schuylers and Hamiltons, Avitli Gen- 
ei'al Schuyler, and his son in-laAV, General Alexander Hamilton, 
at the head. The Schuylers and Hamiltons opposed the Clintons. 

General Schuyler Avas nominated for Governor against George 

Clinton, in 1777. 

The leaders of the third party Avere the Livingstons, avIio Avcre 
both rich, numerous and influential, and at that time had nine 
members of the family in public life, pohticians, judges, &c., 
many of A\diom, as Ave have seen, Avere of national celebrity. They, 
as a family, Avere more numerous than any family in the State. Of 
course two of the above parties had to unite to defeat the third. 

In 1787 GoA'crnor George Clinton, of this State, led the i)arty 
Avho opposed ratification of the Constitution. Hamilton, Jay, 
General Schuyler, and Chancellor Livingston Avere all strong sup- 
porters of the same, and the united action of the ILamiltons, 
Schuylevs and Livingstons, added NeAV York to the States that 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. Tl 

had accepted the Constitution, Chancellor Livingston and Alex- ^ 
ander Hamilton were the framers of the instrument. 

The New York Convention accepted the Constitution by a 
majority of only three out of fifty-seven votes. Yet, after the 
question was settled, there was a powerful reaction in favor of the 
Federal party. The feeling became general that as the Constitu 
tion had been adopted, it should be supported and tried. The 
Anti-Federalists were almost annihilated, and it was some years 
before they regained power. 

In the Spring of 1788, the Federal majority in Ncav York city 
was overwhelming, and considerable in the State. The next year, 
1789, George Clinton was again nom.inated for Governor. The 
Federalists nominated Judge Yates, but George Clinton, who was 
much beloved by the people, was elected. Clinton received G,391 
votes, and Yates 5,962 ; majority for Clinton 429. 

The credit is due to this State, for from it emanated the plan of 
that national compact which binds the States together. In 
Alexander Hamilton's great mind originated that happy comprom- 
ise between the rights of sovereigns and of individuals, so ably 
expounded on a later occasion, by a successor to his reputation 
and glory, (Daniel Webster, in the TJ. S. Senate.) The good 
sense of our people ratified it by their sufii*ages. Let it not be 
deemed irrelevant on this occasion if I refer to that excellent 
series of papers. The Federalist, for it may be consulted by the 
classical scholar for the elegance of its language, and by the 
statesman as the best vindication extant of the principles of a 
republican form of government. 

We will give a short sketch of the meeting to consider the 
Constitution, at Poughkeepsie. This State Convention met at the 
old Van Kleek House, Poughkeepsie, on the 17th of June, 1788. 
There were fifty-seven delegates present, and George Clinton was 
President of the meeting. In no State of the Union was more 



72 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

hostility shown to the Constitution than in the State of New York. 
In that assembly were gathered some of the most distinguished 
men of the Revolution, and their debates were most interesting. 
Its principal advocates, as before stated, Avere Hamilton, Jay and 
Livingston ; besides those named, at the Convention, were 
Christopher P. Yates, John Frey and General James Clinton. 

The debates were continued for about six weeks with all the 
talent and address of the distinguished speakers. Opposed to its 
adoption were George Clinton, Melancthon Smith, John Lansing, 
General James Clinton. George Clinton stated that in times of 
trouble and difficulty, men were always in danger of passing to 
extremes ; that while he admitted the confederation to be weak 
and inefficient, and entirely inadequate for the purposes of Union, 
he, at the same time feared that the new Constitution, proposed to 
be adopted, would give too much power to the Federal Govern- 
ment. The sturdy democrat foresaw that powers were conferred 
upon the Executive of the Union by that Constitution which 
could be used with almost irresistible force, for good or for evil, 
and had his life been spared to have witnessed its operation until 
the close of the first century of its existence, he Avould have learned 
that his prophecy to some extent, at least, had become history. 

It was under these views that both the Clintons voted in Con- 
vention against the unconditional adoption of the present Federal 
Constitution. They were in favor of a modification, or of only a 
qualified adoption. However, when the Constitution was adopted 
and became the law of the land, they both sujiported and cherish- 
ed it with their usual decision and energy of character. 

Chancellor Livingston was one of the most efficient members 
and prevailed in effecting its ratification by his native State, thus 
securing its adojjtion by the United States. We are now in full 
enjoyment of its blessings. May no vaulting ambition, on the part 
of our statesmen, or madness on the part of our people, again jnct 
it i7i jeojmrd^ for a moment. It was on the 26th of July that it 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 73 

was adoioted by the majority of three votes in this State. A full 
account of it and its signers can be found in "Blake's History of 
Putnam County," page 102-143, inclusive. 

James Renwick, in his Life of Alexander Hamilton, writes as fol- 
lows on the meeting of the Convention : "Hamilton was chosen a 
member of this Convention. He, with all who we're committed 
in its favor, counted no more than ten votes, while its opponents 
were nearly four times that number, but he had with him Chan- 
cellor Livingston and Jay, who were in themselves a host. Upon 
the opening of the Convention, Chancellor Livingston, who, from 
high station and long public service deservedly claimed to be 
placed V) the front of the Federal Party ^ moved the consideration 
of the instrument by sections. The great question of acceptance 
or rejection, was, by the adoption of this motion, left to the close of 
the proceedings, instead of being encountered at the beginning. 

"In the discussion thus adroitly commenced the majority became 
committed to the general policy of a more close Union of the 
Statas, and the questions Avere confined to the detail. The oppo- 
nents of the Constitution thus wasted their strength in the pro- 
posal of amendments and changes. Many of these, and a bill of 
rights among the number, were unobjectionable in themselves, and 
only to be opposed on the gi'ound that they were in fact unneces- 
sary, as being implied or covered by the common law. It now 
became a matter of consideration whether they should be adopted 
by the Federalists with a view of conciliation or opposed. The 
latter policy prevailed, it being discovered that a ready acquies- 
cence would have caused new grounds of objection to be sought for. 

"In the discussions which were thus protracted every occasion 
Was seized by Hamilton to portray with all the j^owers of his 
eloquence, the advantages of Union, the dangers of a broken Con- 
federacy, and other evils which would follow in case the Constitu- 
tion were not adopted. Every means of conciliation and com- 
promise that could be employed, were exhausted, until the majority 
10 



74 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

was broken into two parties directed by different motives. 
During the debates the news of the ratification by other States 
were received in succession, until finally it appeared that the con- 
dition upon which the Constitution was to go into effect had been 
fulfilled, and that New York was likely to be left almost alone if 
it should refuse to enter into the Federal Union. Finally, after a 
long and protracted discussion, the Convention of the State 
adopted the Constitution unconditionally." 



CLERMONT, OR LI7INGST0N MANOR. 75 



CHAPTER X. 

CHANCELLOR LIVINGSTON AND GEORGE CLINTON ON NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 

I will here break off, in our sketch of Chaiicellor Livingston, to 
give an account of events at Albany in 1785, to show his opinions, 
as well as those of George Clinton, on the very important question 
at this day (1869,) of Negro Suffrage. The following letter was 
published by the Editors of the New York Evening Post, in an 
issue published in the year 1867, and is valuable as giving the 
views of those distinguished men : 

" To the Editors of the Evening Post : 

"It is the object of this communication to show that it was the 
policy of the New York statesmen who were the contemporaries 
and coadjutors of Jefferson, to place the Negro, when emancipa- 
ted, upon the same footing of civil and political rights with the 
white man. They regarded such a course as the natural and 
necessary result of the principles laid down in the Declaration of 
Indejiendence. Such a fact, if substantiated, furnishes a most 
valuable lesson to those, Avho, at Albany and Washington are 
engaged in the business of State and National Reconstruction, and 
re-aiTanging the basis of Suffrage. Probably the most distinguish- 
ed and influential of the statesmen just mentioned were George 



76 CLERMONTj OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Clinton and Robert R. Livingston. They were members of the 
Continental Congress that severed the connection of this country 
with Great Britain, and Livingston as Avell as Jefferson, was 
appointed on the committee of five to draft the Declaration of 
Independence, 

"The lasting power and practical wisdom of Clinton are well 
attested by a simple recital of the honors bestOAved upon him. He 
was seven times elected Governor of New York ; tliroughout the 
stormy period of the Revolution, and for a long time afterwards, 
twenty-one years in all, he administered this exalted trust. Still 
later he was twice elected Vice President of the United States, 
and for more than a quarter of a century he was the undisputed 
leader in this State of the party which elevated Jefferson and 
Madison to the Presidency. Let us now turn to Livingston. 
For a period of twenty-four years he stood at the head of the 
Judiciary in New York, occujiying the position of Chancellor. 
"When Jefferson first became President he offered Livingston the 
post of Secretary of the Navy, ^chich he declined. Afterwards, 
at the urgent solicitation of Jefferson, he left the bench and went 
as Ambassador to France, where he undertook, and successfully 
accomplished, the task of negotiating the purchase of Louisiana. 
As a patriot, as a jurist, and diplomatist, as the friend of Robert 
Fulton in his experiments in steam navigation, and as a patron of 
agriculture, and the fine arts, his memory will always be honored. 
What then did these New York statesmen have to say about tlie 
subject of Negro Suffrage. 

^^Fortunately they have left their ojnnions vj)on record in clear 
and unmistakable terms, in a document still jH-eserved among the 
archives at Albany, a copy of whicli is to be found in full below. 
After a preliminary statement of the occasion which called it fortli 
in March, 1785, a bill for the gradual abolition of Slavery passed 
the Legislature. Four years had not then elapsed since the sur- 
■ render of Cornwallis at Yorktown. The object of the bill, and 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 77 

the feeling and spirit wiiich promi^ted its enactment, were fully 
exj^ressed in the preamble, which ran as follows : 

"Whereas, It has pleased the Almighty Governor of the 
Universe graciously to rescue us from that state of unconditional 
submission to which Ave were doomed by the councils of Great 
Britain, and to establish us as a people in all the blessings of 
peace, liberty and independence, and Ave are called upon by 
motives of gratitude for our own deliA'erance, and of benevolence 
tOAvards our felloAV creatures, to communicate the freedom and 
hai^pluess which Ave enjoy, as far as circumstances permit ; and 
whereas, the condition of those persons denominated Negro and 
Mulatto SlaA'es is degrading to human nature, and injurious to 
society, and cannot consistently with our own duty and interest, 
or the spirit of our excellent Constitution, be perpetuated; in 
order, therefore, to lay a solid foundation, Avhich in due time AA^ill 
utterly abolish slavery Avithin this State, be it enacted, &c. 

"The bill then provided that every person born Avithin this 
State, after its passage, of any Negro, Mulatto, Indian, Mustee, or 
of any person of any other description whatsocA'er, commonly 
reported and deemed a slave, should be taken, deemed and 
adjudged, to all intents and purposes, to be free-born, but should 
nevertheless remain in the ca^jacity of an indentured servant with 
the master or mistress of his or her mother, until the attainment of 
the age of twenty-five years, if a male, or tAventy-two years, if a 
female. In the next place such master or mistress was required 
to cause such servant to be taught to read and to write a lesrible 
hand, and then on their final discharge to fit them out Avith good 
sufiicient clothing and a new Bible. The bill contained several 
articles not necessary here to notice, as they related chiefly to the 
imiDOsition of penalties for its A^iolation, A'oluntaiy manumission, 
and various other matters of practical detail. It then Avound np 
AA'ith the following proA'isions to which the attention of the reader 
is specially directed. 



78 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

"And be it fiirtlier enacted by tlie autliority aforesaid, that all 
negroes and those of any description whatsoever, commonly 
reputed and deemed slaves, shall forever hereafter have the privi- 
lege of being tried by a jury, in all capital cases, according to the 
course of the common law ; and be it further enacted by the 
authority aforesaid, that no Negro, Mulatto or Mustee, shall have 
a legal vote in any case whatsoever.' 

"Tliis bill never became a law, solely on account of the obnox- 
ious clause just quoted, excluding the colored man from the right 
of SuiFrage. It was rejected by the Council of Revision, consisting 
of Governor George Clinton, Chancellor Livingston, and Judge 
Hobart, of the Supreme Court. This Council, under the State 
Constitution of 1777, then in operation, (the present Federal Con- 
stitution had not yet been framed,) was vested with the veto 
powers now exercised by the Governor alone. The proceedings 
of the Council and its objections to the bill are given in full, as 
follows : 

" 'City of Nkw Yokk, March 21st, 1785. 

" 'Present, Governor^^Clinton ; Livingston, Chancellor ; Hobart, 
Justice. A bill entitled an act for the gradual abolition of Slavery 
within this State was before the Council, which adopted the follow- 
ing objections, reported by Chancellor Livingston, viz : 

1st. Because the last clause of the bill enacts that no Negro, 
Mulatto, or Mustee, shall have a legal vote in any case whatsoever, 
which implicatively excludes people of this description from all 
share in the Legislature, and those offices in which a vote may be 
necessary, as well as from the important privilege of electing those 
by whom they are to be governed. The bill having in other 
instances placed the children that shall be born of slaves in the 
rank of citizens, agreeable both to the letter and spirit of the Con- 
stitution, they are as such entitled to all the privileges of citizens ; 
nor can they be deprived of these essential rights Avithout shocking 
those principles of equal liberty which every page in that Consti- 
tution labors to enforce. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 79 

2d. Because it holds up a doctrine which is repugnant to the 
princijoles on which the United States justify their separation from 
Great Britain, and either enacts what is wrong, or supposes that 
those may rightfully be charged with the burdens of government, 
who have no representative share in imposing them. * * * 

3d. Because this class of disfranchised and discontented citizens, 
who, at some future period may be both numerous and wealthy, 
may under the direction of ambitious and factious leaders, become 
dangerous to the State, and effect the ruin of a Constitution whose 
benefits they are not permitted to enjoy. * * * * 

4th. Because the creation of an order of citizens who are to 
have no legislative or representative share in the government 
necessarily lays the foundation of an aristocracy of the most 
dangerous and malignant kind, rendering power permanent and 
hereditary in the hands of those persons who deduce their origin 
through white ancestors only, though these at some future period 
should not amount to a fiftieth part of the people. That this is 
not a chimerical supposition will be apparent to those who reflect 
that the term Mustee is indefinite ; that the desire of power will 
induce those who possess it to exclude competitors by extending 
it as far as possible ; that supposing it to extend to the seven- 
teenth generation, every man will have the blood of many more 
than two hundred thousand ancestors running in his veins, and 
that if any of these should have been colored, his posterity will, 
by the operation of this law, be disfranchised ; so that if only one 
thousandth part of the black inhabitants now in the State, should 
intermany with the white, their posterity will amount to so many 
millions that it will be difiicult to suppose a fiftieth part of the 
people born within this State two hundred years hence, who may 
be entitled to share in the benefits which our excellent Constitu 
tion intended to secUl'e to every free inhabitant of the State* * * 

5th. Because the last clause of the bill being general, deprives 
those Black, Mulatto, and Muetee citizens, who have heretofore 



80 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

been entitled to a vote, of this essential privilege, and under the 
idea of political expediency, without their having been charged 
with'any offence, disfranchises them in direct violation of the estab- 
lished rules of justice, against the letter and spirit of the Constitu- 
tion, and tends to support a doctrine Avhich is inconsistent with 
the most obvious principles of government, that the Legislature 
may arbitrarily dispose of the dearest rights of their constituents.' 

These words need no comment. They come down to us from 
Clinton and Livingston like an oracle from above. To the honest 
conservative they will serve as a precedent established eighty 
years ago. To the honest radical they Mall stand as the reason for 
the faith that is in him. To the doctrine that Negro Suffrage is 
a dangerous innovation, a freak of political modern philanthropy, 
they ought to prove an effectual antidote. To democracy they 
convey rebuke administered by those of whom it pretends to be 
follower and disciple." 

Signed, H. H. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 8l 



CHAPTER XI. 

cii.vxcELLOu Livingston's interest in agrioultuke. 

Chancellor Livingston, says a contemporary, "was n very useful 
and benevolent man, a scholar of profound erudition, an ardent 
patriot, and a prompt and decided promoter of all the essential 
interests of the country." He took special interest in improve- 
ments in Agriculture and Manufactures, and upon his return to 
the United States from an embassy to France, at the beginning of 
the present century, he introduced into this country some of the 
finest specimens of Merino Sheep, from the celebrated flock of 
Tlambouillet, in France. As early as 1812 it was estimated that 
there were in the United States at least 60,000 descendants of this 
Clermont flock of the Chancellor's, of which about 1,000 were at 
Clermont. 

The Chancellor wi'ote a small book on Sheep in America. His 
agricultural labors are worthy of sj^ecial mention. He was corres- 
ponding member of the Agiicultural Society of the Seine, and 
honorary member of the Agricultural Society of Dutchess County. 
He took a gi-eat interest in the cultivation of fruit trees and in 
raising the finest specimens of fruit of the time, known in this 

country. In 1787 he wrote a letter to Governor William Livings- 
11 



82 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

ton, of New Jersey, on the cultivation of plum trees. The letter 
I here introduce ; it speaks for itself: 

"CLEmioxT, Nov. 15th, 1787. 
. "Dear Sir : — Having been informed that you are not successful 
in raising the green gage plumb, I send you two trees from a 
stock that is remarkably hardy. I have now about twenty bear- 
ing trees, none of which are grafted, but are the offspring of one 
tliat was raised from the stone, the shoots of Avhich have furnished 
some hundred trees, as those I now send you will do, if planted 
in a loose soil. The general complaint is that the fruit drops 
without ripening. I do not find this to be the case with mine. 
I cannot help thinking that these trees in most instances suffer in 
common with a higher order of being, from the ignorance of their 
physicians, who insist uison it that this disorder arises from too 
great a quantity of sap, or in other words from too much health, 
and accordingly direct spare regimen, planting them in stiff sods, 
where tliey feed with difficulty ; and lest they should not suffer 
enough from this, they cut their roots, choke them with stones, 
bind their bodies with bandages, and even go so far as to beat 
them, as if they believed the fruit of this tree like that of religion, 
the offspring of mortification. I have never yet heard that these 
prescriptions have been attended with success, and as they proba- 
bly never will, it might not be amiss for the college to alter them. 
Except man, I knoAV of no animal that suffers from plethora, nor 
would he, unless luxury had provoked his appetite to exceed its 
natural bounds ; all others acquire additional health and vigor from 
plenty of food. The same holds good of vegetables, Avhose seed 
and fruit arc most perfect when a sufiicicncy of food is afforded 
them. 

"The plumb is in no soil a very luxuriant tree ; its groAvth is 
slow, and when it begins to bear it is generally very heavily laden ; 
as the fruit grows large it makes a demand upon the roots for 
more sap than they can readily furnish, more especially as the 
droughts prevail at the very time this requisition is made. The 



CLERMONT, OR LI7INGST0N MANOR. 83 

circulation thus becoming more languid, the fruit withers and 
drops for want of nourishment. If this theory is just, the remedy 
must be the reverse of that usually prescribed. I have accord- 
ingly planted most of my plumbs in the richest part of my garden, 
(the natural soil of which is a light loom, upon a sharp sand.) 
The ground about them has been annually manured and dug. 
My trees scarce ever fail to ripen as much fruit as they can bear, 
and indeed this year though carefully propped many branches broke 
with its weight. I have some plumbs of diflerent kinds, on a hard 
clay, which neither yield so much nor such good fruit as those in 
my garden, besides they take twice the time before they begin to 
bear. This convinces me that my theory is right, and has induced 
me to enlarge upon, in hopes, if it should not interfere with some 
system of your own, that it may be useful to you, and your friends. 
"I am, dear sir, with great respect and esteem 

"Your most obedient hu.mble servant, 

"ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON." 

The Chancellor was exceedingly fond of trying experiments in 
Horticulture and Agricultm'e, and was also fond of a good joke 
on any subject. He had read somewhere, and wished to try the 
experiment himself, that corn-cobs ground up were good feed for 
cattle, and he determined to give it a fair trial. He one day 
therefore ordered his man to take a load of cobs to the nearest 
grist mill and have them ground fine. The load was sent off, and 
the man returned and said to the Chancellor, that the miller 
wanted to know what pay he was to receive for grinding the cobs. 
"Oh," replied the ready Chancellor, "tell him to take out his cus- 
tomary toll." As this was the usual custom for millers to be paid 
for grinding, the miller could find no fault with his own rules, 
much, this time, to his own chagrin. 

As we are now in the line of anecdote we will relate another of 
the Chancellor. He was what is often called a very absent man, 
and was exceedingly fond of shooting, when he had any leisure to 



84 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

devote to tliis amusement. lie frequently used to take his gun 
and dog, and with a boy to hold the horse, would drive back in 
the country in an old fashioned gig, to some low, SAvampy thicket 
of brushwood for game. One day he went out as above, and hav- 
ing shot one bird put it in his coat pocket, and as game was not 
plenty that day, returned home, changed his coat and hung the 
coat he had been wearing, with the bird in the pocket, up in the 
closet. Some days after the family could not conceive what made 
the air of the house near the closet so disagreeable, particularly on 
the side near the Chancellor's coat. The coat was removed, as 
well as all in the closet, to give them a good airing and shaking 
out, when all the source of the troiible was discovered by the tail 
of the bird appearing out of the Chancellor's coat pocket. 

Another anecdote is related of the Chancellor, by one of his 
gi'andsons. A certain Mr. Briggs, of Bristol, (now called Maiden,) 
opposite the Clermont Manor House, applied personally to the 
Chancellor, to allow him to carry passengers from Bristol to the 
Manor dock, to meet the New York and Albany boats, (the then 
floating palaces of the Hudson.) His ferry consisted of a large 
row boat. The Chancellor gave his consent, and thought no more 
of the matter until some days after the above interview, he chanc- 
ed to be taking a stroll down to his dock, when what was his 
suprise to behold a sign placed upon an upright pole by the side 
of the dock. He hastened his pace to read it, when he found it 
contained the following announcement : '■^JBriggs Ferry to Bris- 
tol." It is needless to add that, as the Chancellor considered this 
decidedly cool, Mr. Briggs' sign soon disappeared from view and 
was one of the signs of the fimes that passed into oblivion. 

One of the last efforts of the Chancellor's pen was a pajicr on 
Agriculture. In this spirited essay he vindicated the soil, 
climate, and capabilities of his native country. He showed the 
value of agric\iltural connections between agriculture and manu- 
f^ictures. The inherent fertilitv, and the indigenous resources of 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 85 

the country are the themes of his admh-atiop and eulogy. He was 
among the earliest with Judge Peters to employ gypsum as the 
means of fertilizing soil, and the introduction of clover and a 
better breed of domestic cattle attest his vigilant and enlightened 
zeal. He was also a great believer in drainage, as some of the 
large open drains (I might almost say canals), to this day certify 
on the old Manor farm of Clei'mont, which stand as living monu- 
ments of the Chancellor. He was one of the few men that find 
amid the turmoil and strife of political life, time to look after the 
home life, home pursuits and ennobling pleasures of agriculture, 
"that most healthy, most useful, and most noble employment of 
man." 



86 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XII. 

CORRESrOXl>EXCE BE'nVKEN CHANCELLOR LIVINGSTON AND THE HON. 

JOHN JAY. 

This Chapter Ave devote to letters between those two warm 
friends, Chancellor Livingston and John Jay. These letters show 
the depth of their friendshiji, as well as, touching npon the ncAVS 
of the day, give the style of letter- writing of that period; all of 
which will be found valuable and interesting : 

[From R. K. LiviugstoD.] 

"Clarejiont, 20th March, 1776. 
"Dear John : — Your letters of 26th Jan., 25th Feb , and 4th 
inst., are all before nie. They are written with so much friend- 
ship and affection as to afford me great consolation, and convince 
me, notwithstanding my heavy losses, that in you I have more left 
than falls to the lot of most of my fellow mortals. May the bless- 
ing be continued to me, and I know how to value it. I sympa- 
t hise most sincerely with you in your melancholy apprehensions 
about your parents. I know and I can feel such a loss ; but you 
draw your consolations from a never-failing source, which Avill 
enable you to bear this misfortune, whenever it shall happen, with 
that resignation to the will of Heaven which becomes one who is 
satisfied both of its wisdom and goodness. If we could shake off 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 87 

human frailty in the hour of affliction, we should certainly think 
it less reasonable to lament the death of a good man than to com ■ 
plain of the absence of a friend, who by that absence infinitely 
increases his happiness. To wish them back is selfish and imwor- 
thy of true friendship ; and yet we may, we must grieve when Ave 
are not permitted to take leave. It is, I am sensible, a weakness, 
but I cannot help suffering myself to be afflicted at this circum- 
stance. I know the pleasure that the best of fothers always took 
in my company and conversation, and when I indulge the thought 
I am unhappy that by my absence I lessened any of his enjoyment. 
But where am I running ? God bless you — farewell. 

"Your friend, 

"ROBT. R. LIVINGSTON." 



[From U. K. Livingston.] 

"PiiiLAPELPiiiA, 21st May, 1776. 
"Beak John : — I am much mortified at not hearing from you. 
I wrote to you last week, and am just now setting out for Bristol, 
in order to meet Mrs. Livingston. I could wish to meet Mrs. Jay 
there also. Pray send some of our colleagues along, otherwise I 
must be more confined than either my health or inclination will 
allow. You have doubtless seen the account brought by the 
li'ifleman from London, by which it appears we shall have at 
least 34,000 Commissioners. If your Congress have any spirit, 
they will at least build fourteen or fifteen light boats, capable of 
carrying a twelve-pounder, to secure Hudson River, which is to 
be the chief scene of action. The carpenters employed on the 
frigate would build two or three a day, if they were built in the 
manner of batteaux, which is the true construction. I wish you 
would direct Gaine to send me his paper. God bless you. 

"Yours most sincerely, 

"R. R. LIVINGSTON." 



88 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

[To K. R. Livingston.] 

"New York, 29th May, 1776. 

"Dear Robert : — The pleasure I expected from a junction of 
all our families at Bristol has vanished. Dr. Bard tells me the 
waters there Avould be injurious to Mrs. Jay's complaints, so that I 
shall again take a solitary ride to Philadelphia, whenever the Con- 
vention, who directed me to abide here until their further order, 
shall think proper to dismiss me. Messrs. Alsop and Lewis set 
out next Saturday for Philadelphia. Mr. Duane informs me that 
he is about to return home, and considering how long he has been 
absent from his family, I think him entitled to that indulgence, 
I pray God that your health may enable you to attend constantly, 
at least until it may be in my power to relieve you. Is Mr. Clin- 
ton returned 1 Our Convention will, I believe, institute a better 
government than the present, which, in my opinion, will no longer 
work anything but mischief ; and although the measure of obtain- 
ing authority by instructions may have its advocates, I have reason 
to think that such a resolution will be taken as Avill open a door 
to the election of new or additional members. But be the reso- 
lution what it may, you shall have the earliest advice of it, and 
should my conjectures prove right, I shall inform the members of 
Dutchess of your readiness to serve, and advise them to elect you. 
Don't be uneasy at receiving so few letters from me. I have been 
so distressed by the ill health of my wife and parents, that I have 
scarce written anything. I am, dear Robert, 

P "Your affectionate friend, 

"JOHN JAY." 

Lirro:n R. R livingston.l 

"KixGSTOx, 6th October, 1779. 

"Dear John : — I have just now heard that you are on the point 
of leaving us. I might have expected to have received this intel- 
ligence from yourself, rather than from loose report, since there is 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 89 

scarce a transaction in the world in Avliich I feel myself more inter- 
ested. I rejoice at it, as it advances your fortune and reputation. I 
lament it, as it adds to the losses I have already felt in the course 
of this war, that of a friend whom I had sense enough to value, 
even before age had ripened my judgment, and whom an after ac- 
quaintance with the world has taught me to think inestimable. I 
call it a loss, for I have but little prospect of seeing you here again. 
You will now move in an enlarged sphere, and will hardly think 
of re-crossing the Atlantic till the blood runs too slowly in our veins 
to keep up the ardour of friendship. I was going to give you a 
long detail of State politics, but they are now unworthy your at- 
tention. Besides that, I by no means feel myself disposed at this 
moment to view them in any other than the most contemptible 
light, or to execrate them for detaining me here, when I so ardent- 
ly wish to receive your last adieu. When do you embark, and 
where ? If from Boston, tell me when to meet you at Fishkill, 
and perhaps, (if the Legislature adjourns,) to accompany you. If 
this pleasure is denied me, believe that you, and yours, are attend- 
ed by every tender wish which the sincerest friendship can dictate. 
I will not WTong you so much as to ask you to omit no occasion 
of lessening the pain I feel in your absence by writing to me by 
every conveyance. Your own heart has and will forever suggest 
that thought. Adieu, my dear John. 

"May you be as happy as I wish you. 

"R. R. LIVINGSTON." 

[From Rubort R. Livingston.] 

"Philadelphia, 26th August, 1780. 
"Dear John ;— I' received yours of the 23d May, from Madrid, 
with duplicates thereof, and the letters you wrote from Cadiz and 
Martinique. Your remembrance of the pleasurable days of our 
youth, and the scenes in which we mutually bore our parts, to- 
gether with the attractions which this country still has for you, 

afford us the most pleasing hope that neither time nor absence will 
12 



99 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

weaken a frieiulsliip which has so long stood the test of both. 
This indeed I expected from the steadiness of your temper, but I 
must confess that I had little hope that yoiir early return would 
afford me a prospect of deriving that consolation from it, in the 
decline of life, to which I looked, even while it directed the pur- 
suits and animated the pleasures of youth. You mistake your own 
heart when you say you are unambitious, and without the assur- 
ance contained in your letter, I should have believed that the love 
of glory would have always kept you in the- line in which you 
now are, more especially as the general satisfaction that your ap- 
pointment and conduct since has given, renders it the Avish of 
everybody, less interested in your return than I am, to keep you 
abroad. 

"I have not been able to procure at this place the key to the 
cipher that you directed me to, though I believe I have it at home. 
Besides that, it is very intricate and troublesome. I shall there 
fore be obliged to confine what I have to say to mere common 
occurrences. I enclose you a cipher which is very simple and not 
to be deciphered while the key is concealed, as the same figure 
represents a variety of letters. In order that you may know 
whether it comes safely to hand, I have in this letter used 
the precaution mentioned in yoiu-s. Nothing astonishes me 
more than the confidence with which the British ministry and 
their dependants assert that America sighs to return to their gov- 
ernment, since the fact is that we never were more determined in 
opposition, nor, if we except the derangement of our finances, 
(which the loan of half a million would re-establish, if remitted in 
specie or merchandise,) were we ever so capable of resistance. 
Our crops are uncommonly fine, and the militia of every State 
north and east of Delaware is armed, disciplined and inured to 
the duties of a camp. The southern militia are now at school, 
and I have no doubt will improve by the lessons they receive from 
the enemy. Our friend Smith, who has probably contributed to 
this ministerial madness, uninstructed by his repeated disappoint- 
ments from the beginning of the war, is said to have advised 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 91 

Knipliauseu to erect the royal standard in the Jerseys before Gen- 
eral Clinton returned from Charleston, persuaded that oui* troo^js, 
and particularly the militia would flock to it, and thus he have the 
honor of reducing the country without sharing it with Clinton. 
lie accordingly came OA'er with great parade with his whole force, 
scattering exaggerated accounts in printed hand-bills of the loss 
of Charleston, which, instead of discouraging, only animated the 
militia. They were all in motion upon the first alarm and, though 
ojjposed only by them, and less than a thousand Continental troops, 
he was disgracefully driven out, with the loss of 500 men killed, 
wounded and taken, after having penetrated ten miles from the 
shore and done us no other injury than the burning of a few hous- 
es and the abuse and murder of some women ; since which they 
have been more cautious and less sanguine. Adieu ; remember 
my compliments to the Colonel and Mr. Carmichael. 

"I am, dear John, most sincerely yours, 

"ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON." 

[John Jay to Eobcit K. Livingston.] 

"Paris, 13th August, 1782. 
"Dear Robert : — Almost ever since my arrival here I have 
liad, and still have, a sick family. The epidemic disorder, which 
has spread through the northern part of Em'ope, has been severe 
upon us. ^I am free from it at present, but it has taken from me some 
flesh and much strength. Mrs. Jay has frequent attacks of an 
irregular intermitting fever, and our little girl is not yet wholly 
out of danger. Your letter of the 22d May, and the one enclosed 
with it, from your good mother, contain the first advices I received 
of my father's death. My last letter from Frederick Avas an earlier 
date. That intelligence was not unexpected. I wish I had been 
with him ; but it is a temporary separation, and I am resigned. 
It has added to the number of my inducements to Avalk in his 
steps, and thereby arrive at the same home. I feel very sensibly 
for Peter and Nancy. They are ever in my thoughts. I thank 



92 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

you sincerely for becoming my agent. Dr. Franklin had paid me 
nine months salary a few days before your letters arrived, and too 
great a part of it was pre-engaged to admit of my repaying it, 
and waiting for bills. I must request the favor of you to pay 
tvrenty pounds York money to Miss Kitty Livingston, on account 
of ray little boy, and one hundred and fifty pounds like money to 
Frederick, Peter, and Nancy — to each fifty pounds. Arrange this 
through Mr. Benson. I hear my father has given some of the 
servants free, and that some other of the older ones have been put 
out. Old servants are sometimes neglected. Desire Mr. Benson 
to keep an eye over them, and not let any of them want ; and for 
that purpose, jilace fifty pounds in his hands, which he will apply 
according to his discretion, as necessity may from time to time 
require. He must also reimburse himself for any expenses he may 
be at, on this account. I should write to him also on this subject, 
biit have neither health nor time, having at present a violent head- 
ache, and a little fever, and my letter must be sent to the Marquis 
de LaFayette's this evening. 

"Adieu my friend. Yours, &c., 

"JOHN JAY." 

[From Eobert E. Livingston.] 

"New York, 29th Nov., 1783. 
"Dear John : — I am tAvo letters in your debt, and am conscious 
that I shall make an ill-return for them in oflJering you this 
product of a midnight hour, after a day sjDent in the fatigue of 
business and ceremony that our present situation exacts. But 
having just been informed by Mr. Piatt that he sails to-morrow 
morning, I cannot permit him to go without ofiering you my con- 
gratulations on an event which you have so greatly contributed to 
bring about, the evacuation of this city by the British on Tuesday 
last. Our enemies are hardly more astonished than we are our- 
selves, and than you will be, when you hear that we have been 
five days in town without the smallest disturbance ; that the most 



CLERaiONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 93 

obnoxious royalists that had sufficient confidence in oiu" clemency 
to stay, had not met the least insult. Their shops were opened 
the day after we came in, and Rivington himself goes on as usual. 
The State of New York Gazette is as well received, as if he had 
never been printer to the King's most excellent majesty. So that 
your friends in Europe will find their ap2)rehension ill-founded, and 
that the race of Tories will not, after all, be totally extinct in 
America. Perhaps by good training, and by crossing the breed 
frequently, (as they are very tame,) they may be rendered useful 
animals, in a few generations. I thank you for your prints of the 
air balls ; but wish to have some fuller account of their composi- 
tion, and the use proposed to be made of them. As an architect, 
I cannot but be curious about the first castles in the air that 
promise to have some stable use. Receive my congratulations on 
the birth of your daughter, and make my comiDliments to Mrs. 
Jay on the occasion. I had hardly finished the last line, when I 
Vv'as alarmed by a very loud nimbling noise, accompanied by a 
quick tremulous motion of the earth. The family are too much 
alarmed to permit me to add more. Adieu. 

"R. R. LIVINGSTON." 



[From Eobert R. Livingston.] 

"New York, 25th Januaiy, 1784. 

''Dear John : — The quiet which in my last I mentioned to have 
prevailed here still continues with very few interruptions, though 
the imprudence of the Tories has, in some instances, given disgust 
to the warm Whigs, j^articularly in a contest for the government 
of the church corporation, to the exclusion of those out of the 
lines, and in aj)pointing Mr. Moore, Rector, in order to fill the 
church a few days before we came in. The Legislature have in- 
terposed, and the government of the church is transferred to the 
Whigs. Our parties are, first, the Tories, who still hoj^e for pow- 
er, under the idea that the remembrance of the past should be lost, 
though they daily keep it up by their avowed attachment to Great 



94 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Britain. Secondly, the violent Whigs, who are for expelling the 
Tories from the State, in hopes by that means to preserve the 
l)ower in their own hands. The third are those who wish to sup- 
press all violences, to soften the rigonr of the laws against the 
royalists, and not to banish them from that social intercourse 
which may by degrees obliterate tlie remembrance of past mis- 
deeds ; but Avho, at the same time, are not willing to shock the 
feelings of the virtuous citizens that have at every expense and 
hazard fulfilled their duty, by at once destroying all distinction 
between them and the royalists, and giving the reins into 
the hands of tlie latter ; but who, at the same time, wish that this 
distinction should rather be found in the sentiments of the people, 
than marked out Ijy the laws. You will judge to which of these 
parties the disqualifications contained in our election bill has given 
the representation, when I tell you that the members for this city 
are Lambs, Harper, Sears, Van Zant, Mallone, Rutgers, Hughes, 
Stag and Willet. I must however do all parties the justice to say 
that they profess the higbest respect for the laws, and that, if we 
except one or two persons, they have as yet by no act contradict- 
ed that profession. We are very angry here with Great Britain 
on account of her West India restrictions, (from Avhich, by the bye, 
they suflfer greatly,) and are fulminating resolutions to prohibit 
all intercourse with her, which I think Avill probably be the case 
ere long. Thus have I given you a sketch of our politics, which 
will only be interesting to you if, as I sincerely hope, you mean 
soon to return to us. Politics has extended this letter to such an 
unreasonable length that I dare not hazard a subject, nearer my 
heart than either, but must at this time confine all its dictates to 
simple assurances of the firm and tender affeclioii, with which I 
am, and ever shall be, 

"Dear John, your friend, 

"ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON." 



CLERMONT, OR LIYINGSTON MANOR. 95 

[From E. E. Livingston.] 

"CiAREMOXT, 30tli July, 1784. 

"Permit me, my dear friend, to congratulate you on yonr return 
to your native shore, and to the friendly embraces of those who 
love you in every situation in -which you have been or can be 
placed. My impatience to see you led me to New York about 
three weeks since, where, from the time you had set for sailing, I 
thought it probable that you must have arrived before this. An 
unfortunate accident which has happened to my eldest daughter, 
who a few days ago broke her arm, obliges me to send you these 
cold expressions of my friendship, rather than comply with my 
wishes in offering them and receiving yours in person. Having, 
as I hope, concluded my political career, I have no other wish left 
but that of spending the remainder of my life with those who 
have contributed so much to the hapj)iness of its gayest period. 
Whether you entertain the same moderate wishes, whether you 
content yourself with the politics of this State, or whether you 
will engage in the great field which Congress has again opened to 
you, I shall still have the -consolation to reflect that seas do not 
roll between us, that I may sometimes see you and freqitently hear 
from you. If you are not cured of your ambition, you have every- 
thing to hope for, both in the State and Continental line. I need 
not tell you that I only wish to know yom* objects that I may 
concur in them. 

"Believe me, dear John, 

"Most sincerely and warmly your friend, 

"R R. LIVINGSTON." 

[To H. E. Liviugston ] 

"New York, 18th August, 1V84. 

"Your kind lettef of 30th ult. was delivered to me yesterday by 
Mr. Lewis. I thank you very sincerely for your friendly congratu^ 
lations on my return, and assure you that among the pleasili'es I 



96 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



have long promised myself from it, that of renewing our former 
intercourse and correspondence is not the least. I lanient the 
unfortunate accident which has hajipened to yoiu" oldest daughter, 
and which has deprived me of the satisfaction of meeting you 
here. I have had, and have, so many applications about pajoers 
and business, respecting causes in which I Avas formerly concerned, 
that I shall be obliged to pass a fortnight or three Aveeks here. 
When it will be in my power to pay you a visit, is uncertain. I 
consider it as a pleasure to come, and shall endeavor to realize it 
as soon as possible. When I resigned my appointment in Europe 
I purposed to return to the practice of the law ; what effect the 
unexpected offer of Congress, (of which I was ignorant until after 
my arrival here,) may have on that design as yet remains undecid- 
ed. How for either of us have been or may be under the influence 
of ambition, are questions which, however clear to ourselves, must 
necessarily be less so to others. 

"Present my affectionate compliments to your mother, and Mrs. 
Livingston. Remember me to all the family, 

"Yours, sincerely, 

"JOHN JAY." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 97 



CHAPTER XIII. 

IXArCIKATION OF AVASIIINGTON IX 1789, &C. 

^Ye now arrive at the period of the most important event in the 
eventfiil life of Chancellor Livingston, which is the inauguration 
of Washington as the first President of the United States. It was 
on the first Wednesday in February, 1789, that the Presidential 
Electors were chosen, and on the first Wednesday in March, they 
met to vote for the first President. General Washington received 
the unanimous vote of the College, and probably without a dissent- 
ing voice in the whole nation. John Adams was chosen Vice- 
President. The intelligence of his election being communicated 
to Washington, at Mount Vernon, on the 16th of April. 

Washington soon afterward proceeded to New York, the seat' 

of the general government. His journey to that city was one 

continued triumphal march. Addresses and crowds met him at 

every place. So great were the honors with which he was loaded, 

that they could scarcely have failed to produce a self-haughtiness 

in most men. But not so with our Washington ; he was both 

great and humble. On arriving at Philadelphia he was received 

with distinguished honors. The bridge, across the Schuylkill, was 

highly decorated M'ith laurel wreaths, and at each end were 

triumphal arches of evergi-eens. As he passed the bridge a civic 
13 



98 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

crown was let down from above, upon his head, and at that mo- 
ment a loud shout arose from nearly twenty thousand people who 
lined the avenues. 

At Trenton he was met by a deputation of the members of Con- 
gress, and the highest honors were paid to him. On the brow of 
a hill, near Trenton, a triumphal arch was erected under the 
direction of the ladies of that place. The crown of the arch was 
decorated with laurels and flowers, and on it was displayed, in 
large characters, "December 1776," the month of the year in 
which the battle of Trenton took place. On the sweep of the arch 
was this inscription : "The defender of the mothers will also pro- 
tect the daughters." On one side of this arch a row of young 
girls, dressed in white, with baskets of floAvers in their hands, 
stood awaiting his approach. As he passed under the arch the 
young girls sang the following ode, at the same time brewing his 
path with flowers : 

"Welcome mighty chief once more, 
Welcome to this grateful shore ; 
Now no mercenary foe, 
Aims again the fatal blow. 
Virgins fair, and Matrons grave. 
These thy conquering arm did save. 
Build for thee triimiphal bowers. 
Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers. 
Strew your Hero's way with flowers." 

At Elizabethtown point he embarked in an elegant barge, 
rowed by thirteen men, and as he passed the shipping in the bay 
the vessels manned the yards and showed colors. He was receiv- 
ed at the dock in New York by Governor Clinton and other 
distinguished persons, and a vast concourse of people, and in the 
evening the houses of all avIio were not Tories, were brilliantly 
illuminated. Old Federal Hall, Avhere the inauguration took place, 
stood upon the site where the present Sub-Treasury of the United 
States now stands, corner of Wall and Nassau Streets, and facing 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 99 

Broad Street. It was erected at the beginning of the last centllrJ^ 
Its upper part projected over the sidewalk and formed an arcade. 
Some apartments within the building were used as jails, the pro- 
vost prison of the Revolution. 

I cannot better describe the inauguration ceremony than in the 
words of Washington Irving, in his life of Washington ; he gives 
the most clear description of the scene of any that I have read. It 
is as follows : "The inauguration took place on the 30th day of 
April, 1789. At nine o'clock in the morning there was religious 
services in all the churches, and prayers put up for the blessing of 
Heaven on the new government. At twelve o'clock the city 
troops paraded before Washington's door, and soon after the com- 
mittees of Congress, and heads of Departments, came in then* 
carriages. At half-j^ast twelve the procession moved forward, 
preceded by the troops ; next came the Committees, and heads 
of Departments, in their carnages ; then Washington, in a coach 
of State, his Aide-de-camp, Colonel Humphreys, and his Secretary, 
Ml". Lear, in his own carriage. The Foreign Ministers and a large 
train of citizens brought up the rear. 

"About two hundred yards before reaching Federal Hall, 
Washington and his suite alighted from their carriages and passed 
through the troops, who were drawn up on each side, into the Hall 
and Senate Chamber, where the Vice-President, the Senate, and 
House of Representatives were assembled. The Vice President, 
John Adams, recently inaugurated, advanced and conducted 
Washington to the Chair of State, at the upper end of the room . 
a solemn silence prevailed, when the Vice-President rose and 
informed him that all things were prepared for him to take the 
oath of office required by the Constitution. The oath was to bo 
administered by Chancellor Livingston, of the State of New York, 
on a balcony in front of the Senate Chamber, and in full view of 
an immense multitude occupying the street, the windows and even 
roofs of the adjacent houses, 



100 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

"The balcony formed a kind of open recess, with lofty columns 
supporting the roof. In the centre Avas a table with a covering of 
crimson velvet, upon which lay a superbly bound Bible on a crim- 
son velvet cushion. This was all the paraphernalia for the august 
scene. All eyes were fixed upon the balcony, when at the appoint- 
ed hour Washington made his appearance, accompanied by various 
public functionaries, and members of the Senate and House of 
Representatives. He was clad in a full suit of dark brown cloth, 
brown coat of American manufacture, with a steel hilted dress 
sword, white silk stockings and silver shoe buckles. His hair was 
dressed and powaiered in the fjxshion of the day, and worn in a bag 
and solitaire. His entrance upon the balcony was hailed by uni- 
versal shouts ; he was evidently moved by this demonstration of 
public affection. Advancing to the front of the balcony, he laid 
his hand upon his heart, bowed several times and then retreated 
to an arm chair near the table. The populace ajipeared to under- 
stand that the scene had overcome him ; and were hushed at once 
into profound silence. After a few moments Washington rose 
and again came forward. John Adams, the Vice-President, stood 
on his right ; on his left the Chancellor of the State, Robert R. 
Livingston ; somewhat in the rear were Roger Sherman, Alexan- 
der Hamilton, Generals Knox and St. Clair, the Baron Steuben 
and others. 

"The Chancellor advanced to administer the oath prescribed by 
the Constitution, and Mr. Otis, the Secretary of the Senate, held 
up the Bible on its crimson cushion. Tlie oath was read slowly 
and distinctly, Washington at the same time laying his hand on 
the open Bible ; when it was concluded he replied solemnly : 'I 
swear, so help me God.' Mr. Otis would have raised the Bible to 
his lips, but he bowed down reverently and kissed it. The Chan- 
cellor now stepped forward, waved his hand, and exclaimed: 
'Long live George Washington, President of the United States.' 
At this moment a flag Avas displayed on the cupola of the Hall, 
on which signal there was a general discharge of artillery on the 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 101 

battery; all the bells of the city rang out a joyful peal, and the 
multitude rent the air with their exclamations. Washington again 
bowed to the people and returned into the Senate Cliamber, where 
he delivered to both Houses of Congress his inaugural address, 
characterized by his usual modesty, moderation and good sense, 
but uttered with a voice deep, slightly tremulous, and so low as to 
demand close attention in the listeners. After this he proceeded 
with the whole assemblage, on foot, to St. Paul's Church, Avhere 
prayers, suited to the occasion, were read by Dr. Prevost, Bishop 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in New York, who had been 
appointed by the Senate one of the chaplains of Congress. So 
closed the ceremonies of the inauguration. The whole day was 
one of sincere rejoicing, and in the evening were brilliant illumi- 
nations and fire works." 

"The above," writes Lossing, the Historian, "was the crowning 
act of the war of Independence. By this act the foundation of a 
mighty State was laid, the corner stone of a great temple of Uni- 
versal Freedom^ was implanted, the divine truth of mem s eqxicdity 
was vindicated, and the dawn of a glorious era broke upon the 
Avorld." 

As soon as Washington had assumed the Presidency, he request- 
ed the heads of the various departments of the government, as it 
was then carried on, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, 
the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and the Secretary of the Treasury, 
to draw up an elaborate report, each of the affairs of his own 
department. These reports Washington read and condensed with 
his own hand, and at the same time he perused with care the 
Avhole of the official records, from the treaty of peace down to his 
own election to the Presidency, making an abridgment of them 
for his own use. Thus he acquired a thorough undei^standing of 
the condition of the nation over which he presided. We have 

*We may now indeed say (1869,) tbat our country is I'roe, for Universal Freedom rei<;ns 
throughout our land, and we now have the re-gilded Stars xoithnut the Stripes. Thanks to 
the Proclamation ol Emancipation of that immortal champion of FreeUoxn, Lincoln, 
"Jehovah has in<}eed triuajphed, His people are free." 



102 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

read in the life of Wasliingtoii, tliat wliile Comiuander-iu-Chief of 
tlie Armies, he exercised a vigihuit superiuteudence over his own 
private affairs, and this superintendence he continued to exert 
while burdened with the cares of civil government. Every Aveek 
he received accurate reports from the manager he had left in 
charge of ]\Iount Vernon, these reports being drawn up accord- 
ing to a form, which he had himself prepared. In this way ho 
perceived what was going on at Mount Vernon, almost as distinct- 
ly as if he had been on the spot ; and once a week at least he 
wrote a letter of directions to his manager in reply to the reports 
received. So laboriously accurate was he that this letter of dii-ec- 
tions was usually copied from a rough draft. 

It is another proof of the extreme interest which Washington, 
like Chancellor Livingston, took in agricultural pursuits, that, 
during his presidency he kept up a correspondence with the most 
skillful agriculturists, both in Europe and America, exchanging his 
ideas on the subject with them. For it is the interchange of 
thought for thought tliat fornis the cultivated mind, and also the 
cultivated field. At first there was no established etiquette at 
Washington's MejnihUcan Court, as to the times when he should 
receive visitors, and the consequence was that he had to receive 
them at all times, from morning till night, just as they pleased to 
come. To put a stop to this torrent of people it was arranged 
that Washington should receive ordinary visitors on Tuesdays 
only, from three to four o'clock, while Mrs. Washington, in like 
manner, received visitors on Fridays, from three to five o'clock, 
the President being always present at her levees. 

He never accepted any invitations to dinner, but every day, 
except Sunday, he invited to his own table a number of guests, 
official persons, private friends, or foreigners who were introduced 
to him. On Sundays he received no company. In the morning 
he regularly attended church, and the evening he spent in the 
society of his own family and such intimate friends as were privi- 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR, 103 

leged to drop in. During the first year of Washington's Presi- 
dency his mother died at the age of eighty-two. 

The first session of Congress, under his Presidency, was spent 
in organizing the several departments of the Executive. Wash- 
ington, as President, nominated the heads of those departments. 
The celebrated Thomas JeflTerson, he appointed Secretary of State, 
Alexander Hamilton, whose political opinions were considerably 
less democratic than Jefierson's was named Secretary of the 
Treasury, Henry Knox was continued in the ofiice of Secretary of 
War, Edward Randolph, was made Attorney General, and John 
Jay Chief Justice. These appointments reflected great credit on 
Washington's sagacity and impartiality. It is impossible, in this 
short sketch, to give the history of Washington's Presidency ; 
suffice it to say, that the same talents and probity which had 
characterized him hitherto appeared conspicuously in the discharge 
of the new duties which now fell to his lot. 

In nothing was his ability more manifest, than in the manner in 
which he maintained the balance between the two political parties, 
into which his own cabinet and the nation generally split. The 
Federal party, whose aim was to strengthen the central authority, 
and the Democratic party, whose aim was to increase the power 
of the citizens in their local Courts and in the separate State 
Legislatures. The head of the Republican, (afterwards called the 
Democratic party,) was Jefferson. Washington personally inclined 
to the former party, but as President he made it his object to 
make the different elements work as harmoniously as possible. It 
was impossible, however, to prevent the parties from diverging 
more and more, and as Washington's term of Presidency was 
drawing to a close, fears began to be entertained of the conse- 
quences which might result from such division of ojjinion. The 
nation had not yet been consolidated, and a struggle between the 
Federal and Republican parties might produce the most disastrous 
effects. 



104 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

The only means of prcA'enting sucli a calamity was the re-elec- 
tion of Washington for another term of four years. Accordingly 
all his friends and the members of his cabinet earnestly solicited 
him to alloAV himself to be re-elected. With considerable reluc- 
tance Washington yielded to these solicitations and suffered him- 
self to be re-elected. The time of his re-election was just that 
})eriod when the French Revolution was at its height, and it requir- 
ed all of Washington's skill and strength of purpose, to prevent the 
United States from being di-awn into the vortex of a Eurojiean 
Avar. But although he succeeded in preserving the neutrality of 
the States, there were many citizens Avho sympathised Avith tlie 
French Revolutionists. 

The Republican party, Avith Jefferson at its head, AA\as gaining 
ground. So A'ehement did the struggle betAA'cen the tAvo parties 
"become, towards the end of Washington's second Presidency, that 
even he did not escape the attacks of calumny, and the accusations 
of an excited public. So disturbed Avas the state of political opin- 
ion in the Union that many AA^ere anxious that Washington should 
for a third time accept the office of President, but against this 
proposal he AA^as resolute. Accordingly, in 1797, the election of a 
ncAV President took place. John Adams, of the Federalist j^arty, 
having the largest number of A'otes, Avas declared President. 
Thomas Jefferson, of the Republican party, having the next largest 
number of votes, was declared elected Vice-President. 

Adams Avas inaugurated on the 4th of March, and immediately 
after the ceremony Washington retired to Mount Vernon, Avhere 
he resided for tAVO and a half years, finding a recreation in his old 
age in those quiet agricultural pursuits Avhich had always been his 
delight. He Avas suddenly taken sick Avith a cold, and died on 
the 14th of December, 1790, aged sixty-seven years. lie was 
buried at Mount Vernon on the 18th. The ncAVs of his death Avas 
speedily carried through America, and all over Europe, and cvery- 
Avhcre men vied with each other in doing honor to his mcmorv. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 105 

One circumstance connected Avitli the deatli of this great man 
is gratifying to record. On his estate was a large number of 
negro slaves. Part of them belonged to Washington himself, -the 
rest were the property of Mrs. Washington. During his life, the 
founder of American Liberty seems to have acted the same as 
other Virginian gentlemen, but at his death he left a benevolent 
clause in his Will, directing that all the Slaves he possessed, in his 
own right, should be emancipated after the death of Mrs. Wash- 
ington. Chancellor Livingston having been previously one of the 
Commissioners to adjust tlie Massachusetts controversy, he was in 
1790 appointed on the Commission to negotiate with Vermont in 
the great Territorial dispute witli that State. The desired conces- 
sions were made by New York, and the aifair satisfactorily ended. 



lOG CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

POLITICAL RECOKUS FKOM 1792 TO 1800. 

The Federalists noniin.ited for Governor tlie virtuous John Jay, 
and the Republicans nominated their old standard-bearer Governor 
George Clinton. The contest was so close it liad to be left to the 
official canvass to decide it, which Avas then decided by the Secre- 
taiy of State, pronouncing George Clinton again elected Governor. 
In 1796 the Federalists re-noniinated John Jay, and this time 
victory crowned their bannei'S, for John Jay Avas elected Governor 
of New York. 

At that date Chancellor Livingston's brother, EdAvard Livings- 
ton, Avas in Congress. The Chancellor Avrote to him a letter of 
advice, of Avhich the folloAving extracts are made. This AV'as in the 
month of February, 1796: "As I naturally feel myself much 
interested in your political career, I cannot but entreat you to con- 
sider that you are at this moment making immense sacrifices of 
fortune and professional reputation, by remaining in Congress. 
Nothing can comjiensate for these losses but attaining the highest 
l)olitical distinction, but believe me, this Avill never be obtained 
Avithout tlie most uuAvearied application, both in and out of the 
House. Read everything that relates to the state of Aour laAvs, 

conunerce, and finances. Fonn and perfect vour })lans so as to 
14 



CLERMONT, OR LI7INGST0N MANOR. 107 

bring them forward in tlie best shape. Forgive, my dear brother, 
both my freedom and my style. I write from my heart, not from 
my head. Be persuaded that no extent of talent will avail Avith- 
out a considerable portion of industry, to make a distinguished 
Statesman." 

In Greenleaf 's New York Journal and Patriotic Register, for 
February 2d, 1797, was inserted a letter i")aragraph, thus : '"On 
the 24th inst. General Philip Schuyler, (unanimously, excepting 
one vote in the Assembly and one in the Senate,) was elected to 
the office of Senator of the United States, by the two Houses of 
the Legislature of this State, for six years from the 4th day of 
March next, on which day the seat of Aaron Burr, one of our 
present Senatoi's in Congress, becomes vacant." 

The services of this old soldier were at last recognized. The 
Federalists were in power, and the Republicans preferred to vote 
for the old soldier rather than to throw them away upon a candi- 
date of their own party. General Schuyler was much touched, or 
flattered, by the unanimity of the vote. He was a member of the 
State Senate at the time, and he took occasion to make a short 
speech full of honest feeling. 

The Federalists, as I have stated, were in the ascendant in this 
State. John Jay Avas Governor. The party looked strong, and was 
strong, but at this time they sustained a heavy loss, which led 
afterwards to damaging results. The Livingstons, headed by 
Chancellor Livingston, Avith fcAV exceptions, according to Dr. 
Hammond, the Historian of Ncav York Political Parties, left 
unitedly the Federal party, and associated themselves Avith the 
Republicans.* 

*In 1798 John .Tay again ran for Governor, and this time against Chancellor Livingston. 
From the Life of Jay, by his son William Jay, I have extracted as follows: "The mode 
lation and forhearauce evinced by Governor Jay towards his political opponents, arose 
fiom other and higlier motives tlian a desire to conciliate their favour ; and he was there- 
fore neither surprised nor disappointed at finding the electioneering campaign opened 
against him at least one year before the expiration of his term of service. Hi.s enemies 
took the tield under the banners of his old friend, Chancellor Livingston, whom they 
announced as their candidate for Governor. Mr. Jay would gladly have retired fromthe 
contest, but the indignities which Franco was at this time heaping upon his country, and 
the probability that they would soon lead to war, forbade him to consult only his personal 
gratiticatiou. His fellow-citizens still claimed his services, and be resolved not to abandon 



108 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

We find Cliancellor Livingston, writes Parton, at the banquet 
given in New York, in 1796, to celebrate the ninth anniversary 
of tlie alliance between France and the United States, offering the 
following toast : "May the present coolness between France and 
America produce, like the quarrels of lovers, a renewal of love." 

In 1798 we find John Jay elected Governor of the State of New 
York, by a majority of 2,382 votes, over Chancellor Livingston. 
Jay was surprised and sorry to be opposed to his old friend in this 
race for the ofiice. 

In 1799 the Republican ticket in the city of New York Avas 
defeated by a majority of 900. It was headed with the name of 
Aaron Burr. Then it was that the party began to submit to that 
strict discipline which gave it twenty-five years of victory. "All 
who numbered themselves as its members," writes Remvick in his 
Life of Dewitt Clinton, "were required to yield implicit obedience 
to the will of its majority ; that majority was made to move at the 
beck of committees, which concentrated the power in the hands of 
a few individuals. Denunciation as a traitor was the fate of liim 
who ventured to act in conformity to his individual opinion, when 
it did not meet with the general sanction." 

the helm at a momeiit when the lowering clouds portended a storm. No competitor 
could probably have been selected with whom lie would have been more reluctant to con- 
tend than the Chancellor. Ancient friendship, and ancient associations must have render- 
ed it peculiarly painful to him to find in his ohl companion and fellow-laborer a voluntary 
rival, liut whatever may have been his rcllcctious on the occasion they were conttiicd 
to bis own bosom, and notbinfj unkind towards liis opponent escaped from his lips or his 
pen. During the six years of Governor Jay's aduiinistration not one individual was dis- 
missed by him from office on account of his politics. So long as an oflicer discharged his 
duties with fidelity and ability he was certain of being continued, and hence his devotion 
to the public became identified with his personal interest. It is related that in the Coun- 
cil a member was urging, in behalf of a candidate, his zeal and usefulness as a Federalist, 
when he was interrupted by the Governor with, "That, sir, is not the question. Is ho fit 
for the oiBce '(" About the time of the campaign of Jay against Chancellor Livingston, 
"a satirical and highly personal letter was addressed to tlie latter in the columns of a 
newspaper under a fictitious signature, and pains was taken to give currency to the opin- 
ion that tlie Chief Justice was the writer of this and other articles. To aid this impres- 
sion an answer to the letter soon after appeared in the same paper addressed to Mr. Jay, 
as its author. There is reason to believe that both publications proceeded from the same 
pen. The success of this base design was defeated by the appearance in the papers of the 
following card : 

To the Puhlic. 
It h.aving been deemed expedient to consider me as the author of certain i)olitical 
papers, lately published, I think it proper to declare upon my honor that I am iu)t the 
author of any political paper that has been published this j'ear ; that I have neither writ- 
ten, dictated, nor seen the manuscrijjts of any of those which have appeared against 
Governor Clinton, or any other person whatever ; and that I do not even know who the 
writers are, further than I have heard some of these papers ascribed to one person and 
some to another. Whoever they may bo they have not boon actuated by my advice or 
desire, and not being under my direption or control I cap;iot, be responsible for tlie paiu 
their publications have given." ' ' ''JOUN JAY." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 109 

The next year, 1800, anotlier important presidential election took 
place. A President and Vice-President were now to be chosen by 
the electors, and, writes Parton, in his Life of Aaron Burr, "Among 
the Republicans there Avas but one man mentioned for the first 
office, and that was Thomas Jefferson. For the second, or Vice- 
Presidency, there was competition. What we now accomplish by 
nominating conventions was done in those days by party caucuses 
of the members of Congress. A few days after that the news of 
the great New York election reached PhiladeljDhia. A Re2)ublican 
caucus was held for the purpose of deciding upon a candidate for 
the Vice-Presidency. The choice lay between three men. 
Chancellor Livingston, George Clinton, and Aaron Burr. It was 
concluded that Chancellor Livingston's deafness was an insuper- 
able objection to an officer who would have to j^reside over a 
deliberative body, and he was set aside. The nomination was 
given to Aaron Burr. Jefferson and Burr were elected." 

Just before his election took place Mr. Jefferson feeling sm'e of 
his success, wrote a letter to Chancellor Livingston and offered 
him a seat in his Cabinet, as Secretary of the Navy, but which 
offer the Chancellor declined. The 4th of March, 1801, was a day 
of rejoicing, throughout the United States, as it was inauguration 
day. Far away at Albany, the Republicans of the. New York 
Legislature, were banqueting hilariously to keep the day joyous 
for them. 

In the distribution of the spoils of victory the members and 
adherents of the two great ftimilies met with favor. Edward Liv 
ingston was appointed Mayor of the city of New York ; Chancel- 
lor Livingston went as ambassador to France ; Brockholst Liv- 
ingston and Smith Thompson, (who had married a Livingston,) 
Avere elevated to the Supreme Court ; Morgan Lewis, Dr. Tillot- 
son, and General Armstrong, all had appointments. DcAvitt 
Clinton Avas in the Senate. Thus the Republican party had cause 
to rejoice, for it looked strong and Avas strong. 



110 CLERMONT, Oil LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CIMPTEU XV. 

ClIANOKLLOU LIVIXGSTOn's 3IISS10N TO FKAXCE. 

Tlie appointment of Chancellor Livingston as ambassador to the 
Court of France, in 1801, was one of the first acts of the new 
ailministration of President Jefferson. Napoleon Bonaparte, tlie 
youthful conquerer of Italy, was at that time first Consul of the 
French Republic. His Court, even then, rivalled in magnificence 
and splendor the most august Courts of Europe. Chancellor Liv- 
ingston at once conciliated the good feeling of that extraordinary 
man, by the amenity of his manners, and promoted the best inter- 
ests of his country by perseveri)ig and enlightened exertions. 
Dm'ing the sliort lived peace of Amiens, Paris was visited by the 
refined and intelligent from every part of the civilized world, and 
here the Chancellor found leisure amidst the duties of official 
station to cultivate those ornate studies for which that Capital 
furnishes every facility. 

On the day of a great levee, which Avas held at the Tuillerics, 
'"tlie numerous representatives of all nations, and strangers from 
every country, assembled to pay their respects to the First Consul 
of France, now established, as the sole head of tlie government. 
Tiie American Ambassador, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, of 
New York, plain and simple in maTiners and dross, represented 
liis Republic with propriety and dignity." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. Ill 

In that important negotiation with the government of France, 
which resulted in the acquisition of Louisiana to the United 
States, Chancellor Livingston was the prominent and efficient 
agent. Its transfer by the Spanish Government to France 
I- in 18Q2, had excited the most lively feelings of the American 
Republic. By this unexpected measure they were made the 
neighbors to a power, which, under the giant energies of the 
First Consul, threatened, in case of rupture, the very existenceof 
oiir Republic. Immediately preceding the entrance into it of 
the French authorities, the Spanish powers prohibited the inhabit- 
ants of the Avestern country the vise of New Orleans as a place of 
deposit for their productions, contrary to the treaty Avith his 
Catholic Majesty. 

A universal sj^irit of indignation aninuited the American peoi)lc, 
and there were not wanting tliose who recommended an immediate 
recourse to arms. The discussions on this question in the Con- 
gress of the United States elicited debates, in which Dewitt Clin- 
ton and Gouverneur Mon-is, representatives of this State in the 
American Senate, sustained the different views of the rival parties 
of this country. 

In pursuance of the sounder counsels of those who urged the 
projjriety of negotiation and peace, the Executive of the United 
States deputed as Minister to the Court of France, the late Presi- 
dent Monroe. But previous to his arrival. Chancellor Livingston, 
in an elaborate and interesting w^'itten address to the French 
Government, had induced them to afterward sell us the vast terri- 
tory of Louisiana. To further this gi'eat object, he liad also 
personally importuned the First Consul. In April, 1802, Chancel- 
lor Livingston received a letter from President Jefferson, a part of 
which is here given. 

"Washington, April 18th, 1802. 
"Deau Sir : — The cession of Louisiana and the Floridas, by 
Spain to France, works most sorely on the United States. On this 
subject the Secretary of State has \mtten to you fully. It com- 



112 CLERMONT. OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

pletely reverses all the political relations of the United States and 
will form a new ej^och in our political course. * * * 

There is on the globe one single spot the possessor of which is our 
natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through whicli 
the produce of three-eighths of our territory must j^ass to market, 
and from its fertility it Avill ere long yield more than half of our 
whole produce and contain more thau half of our inhabitants. 
France, placing herself in that door, assumes to us the attitude of 
defiance. Spain might have retained it quietly for years. Per- 
haps nothing since the Revolutionary Avar has produced more 
uneasy sensations through the body of the nation. 

"THOMAS JEFFERSON." 

The result of Chancellor Livingston's efforts Avas prompt and 
liighly successful in the end. "When Bonaparte was made the First 
Consul, he had conceived a magnificent project for establishing a 
grand military colony in Louisiana, the territory of which he had 
just extorted from the imbecility of Spain, having first jirocured 
the exclusion of our people from the privilege of deposit at New 
Orleans. 

His veteran legions, released from active service by the transient 
peace of Amiens, were to be planted on the shores of the Gulf of 
Mexico and of the Mississij^pi, to overawe and curb, and eventually 
to dominate this republic. It was the precursor of the more 
gigantic and grasping project of his successor, now in process of 
execution a little further to the South. 

The province was likely to prove a new instrument of power, or 
plaything in the hands of the successful soldier of fortune Avho 
directed the movements of armies at his Avill. It Avas something 
more than a mere speculation that he Avould turn a portion of his 
force to the NcaV "World. The troops Avere assembled to embark 
for his American possessions on the Mississippi, and there Avas a 
prospect of far greater difticulties as to the navigation of that river 
than had ever presented themselves in the feeble dii)lomacy and 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 118 

scant authority of the former Spanisli owners. Livingston warned 
his government at home of the danger, and advised preparation to 
meet the emergency, while he exerted every nerve to bring his 
negotiation to a successful issue. 

At tliat moment Napoleon was not in a humor to listen to 
tlie proposal. President Jefferson then threw upon Mr. Monroe 
the perilous and almost hopeless res^Jonsibility of the case on 
Avhich the whole future of the country so much depended, by send- 
ing him to France as Envoy Extraordinary, to preserve and secure 
to us the use of the Mississippi River. lie reached Havre on the 
10th of April, and Paris on the 12th, to find that everything was 
most unexpectedly changed. Tlie flames of war had broken out 
again in Europe, the twenty thousand veterans encamped at 
Helvoetsluys for the military colony in Louisiana, were wanted 
elsewhere. "France wanted money, and must have it." The First 
Consul had already, on the 8tli, announced to his Council his 
determination to sell the Avhole territory to the United States. In 
fact, Talleyrand had gone so far, on the 10th, as to ask Mr. Liv- 
ingston how much the United States would give for the whole. 
Of course nothing remained for Mr. Monroe but to agree in the 
price, and "the negotiation was concluded within a month after 
his arrival, April 30th." 

Thus the whole valley of the Mississippi, the Rocky Mountains, 
the Great Plains, and the Pacific Coast, doAvn to the forty-second 
degree of latitude, became the territory of the' United States ; in 
foot, doubling the extent of our national domain. 

The correspondence of Chancellor Livingston, addressed to 
Madison, the Secretary of State, at this time, is of unusual interest. 
There is one letter in particular, dated Paris, April 13th, 1803, 
midnight, some little time before Monroe's arrival, naiTating the 
interview of the day with the Minister of the Treasury, which 
shows us the machinery of the negotiation. 

"Chancellor Livingston appears to liave conducted tlie whole 
15 



114 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

fifFair Avitli masterly ability ; making his national bargain with the 
skill of a diplomatic chapman haggling over millions. The First 
Consul mentioned a snm impatiently to his minister. 'Well, you 
have the charge of the Treasury ; let them give you one hundred 
millions of francs, and pay their own claims and take the country.' 
lie suggested that the nation had no means of raising such a sum. 
'They can borrow it,' said the Consul. In reply, Livingston 
stated to Marbois his agreement with him, that the sum was exor- 
bitant, the more so as they only wished the east side of the Missis- 
sippi and the Floridas, Texas then not being dreampt of in the 
political philosoi^hy. Marbois talked of sixty millions, and the 
American claims to the amount of twenty more. The American 
negotiator found this still greatly beyond the national means, and 
urged the possibility of the Americans taking it by force. All 
this and more was admitted by Marbois Avith a shrug. 'You 
know the temper of a youthful conqueror ; everything lie does is 
rapid as lightning ; we have only to speak to him as an oppor- 
tunity presents itself, perhaps in a crowd, when he can bear no 
contradiction.' The affair went through some additional barsrain- 
ing of the kind upon the arrival of Monroe, Avhen a treaty was at 
length concluded, April 30th, on the basis of a payment of sixty 
millions of francs, and an assumption of the debts to the amount 
of tAvcnty additional millions, making the entire sum paid for tlie 
purchase, about fifteen millions of dollars." 

It was justly regarded as a diplomatic triumph, and though it 
depended very much upon the will or conveniences of Napoleon, 
credit is certainly due in the negotiation to Livingston. 

The menacing posture, also, of affairs between England and 
France doubtless facilitated the object of these arrangements, and 
resulted as shown in the transfer of the entire country to the 
American Republic. Hunt, in his Life of Edward Livingston, 
gives the following account of the above transaction : "Barbc 
Marbois took upon himself to demand 80,000,000 of francs for the 
Ten-itory, 30,000,000 francs more than the First Consul had 



CLERMONT, Oil LIVINGSTON MANOll. 115 

authorized him to demand for it. To this demand the American 
Ministers, Messrs. Livingston and Monroe, soon acceded, only 
asking a stijiulation, to which France agreed, that out of the 80,- 
000,000 francs the United States should reserve the sum of 20,000,- 
000 francs, to be applied to the satisfaction of claims of their own 
citizens against France under the Convention of 1800. It was 
declared by the treaty that five and one-third francs sliould equal 
the dollai' of the United States. So that the sum paid directly to 
France, on the purchase, was $11,250,000, and the sum reserved 
to satisfy claims of citizens of the United States was 83,750,000 
making the whole price $15,000,000." 

By this most important treaty, contrary to the anticipations of 
the timid or interested, the confederacy of our States Avas placed 
on an invulnerable basis. Territory was added to our country 
nearly equal in extent to that of the original States of our Union, 
and the blessings of a free government secured to millions who had 
otherwise groaned under the vassalage of foreign powers and 
dominion. The vast deserts of Louisiana are now thickly popu- 
lated, and in the field New Orleans has been added to the lists of 
Bunker Hill, StilhVater, Chippewa, Gettysburg, and Richmond. 

After the signing of this eventful treaty the three ministers ai'ose 
from the table, (says one of them, the Count Marbois,) when 
Chancellor Livingston, expressing the general satisfaction, said, 
with prophetic sagacity : "We have lived long, but this is the 
noblest work of our whole lives. The treaty which we have just 
signed has not been obtained by art or dictated by force, equally 
advantageous to the two contracting parties. It will change vast 
solitudes into flourishing districts ; from this day the United States 
take their place among the powers of the first rank. The English 
lose all exclusive influence in the affairs of America. Thus one of 
the principal causes of European rivalries and animosities is about 
to cease. The United States Avill re-establish the maritime rights 
of all the Avorld, which are now usurped by a single nation. 
These treaties will thus be a guarantee of peace and concord 



116 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

among coininevciul States. Tlie instruiuonts Vv'liich wc liave just 
signed will cause no tears to be shed ; they prepare ages of happi- 
ness for innumerable generations of human creatures. The Missis- 
sippi and Missoiu'i will see them succeed one another and multiply, 
truly Avorthy of the regard of Providence, in the bosom of equality, 
under just laws, freed from the errors of superstition and the 
scourges of bad government." 

The consequences of this act did not escape the keen penetra- 
tion of the First Consul. "This accession of territory," said he, 
"strengthens forever the power of the United States, and I have 
just given to England a maritime rival that Avill sooner or later 
humble her pride." This' successful mission to the Court of 
France secured for that able diplomatist, Chancellor Livingston, 
imperishable fame. 

In 1804 he left the French Capital and traveled extensively in 
Em'ope. On his return to Paris, Napoleon, who was then 
Emperor, presented him with a splendid gold snuff box with a 
miniature likeness of himself painted on it, by that celebrated 
painter, Isabey. Chancellor Livingston, when in Paris in 1803, 
Avrote a letter to his sister, Mrs. Garrettson, as follows, in which 
he describes the horrible guillotine : 

"When I compare the rage for destruction at that day with the 
facility this instrument affords for taking off the heads, I almost 
wonder that any one Avas left in France. When Ave arrived here 
the fashionable shaAvds Avere all crimson, in imitation of those 
Avorn by the victims of the guillotine. Would you believe it pos- 
sible that the fair and the gay should sportively recall by their 
dress, horrors by Avhich almost every one of them had lost a rela- 
tive or a friend ? Nothing more fully characterizes the nation, as 
at once amiable and frivolous, possessing at the same time every 
refinement of the understanding and every Avcakness of the heart. 
The nerves of the people are certainly more delicately strung than 
those of other nations, and the power of imagination over their 
actions is inconceivable." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 117 

The official duties of Chancellor Livingston, as Resident Minis- 
ter at Paris, did not prevent him from bestowing his attention to 
those objects of taste, congenial to his feelings and beneficial to 
his country. (To the American Academy of Fine Arts, established 
in New York in 1801, and of which he was the princij^al founder, 
and afterwards the President, in 1808, when he had returned from 
his mission to France. It then received the act of incorporation, 
under the name of the American Academy of Fine Arts ; Chan- 
cellor Livingston, President ; Col. John Trumbull, Vice President ; 
Dewitt Clinton, David Hosack, John R. Murray, William Cutting, 
and Charles "Wilkes, Directors ; and if we add the names of C. D. 
Golden, Edward Livingston and Robert Fulton, we include in this 
enumeration the leading New Yorkers who, for many years, were 
liberal in their patronage to promote the undertaking.) He added 
the excellent collection of busts and statues which are noAv the 
boast of that institution, and was instrumental in procuring, from 
the liberality of the First Consul, its rich paintings and prints. He 
continued through life devoted to its interests, and was for many 
years its chief officer. 

To the transactions of the Society for the promotion of the Use- 
ful Arts, established in 1793, chiefly through his exertions, he 
contributed many appropriate papers, and during his long resi- 
dence abroad enriched our Agriculture with the improvements of 
French husbandry. He also purchased in Paris a large number 
of books for his own private library, and handsome furniture and 
tapestries for the adornment of his splendid rural home, at Cler- 
mont, New York. 

He, among other things, sent out a large gilt and bronze Amer- 
ican eagle, which he had placed over his bed in his bed-room, to 
liold the canopy over the same. It was still fjistened to the wall 
in 1858, and at the sale of the furniture to close up the estate of 
Montgomeiy Livingston, a grandson of the Chancellor, it remain- 
ed in the house and was presented by the purchasers of Clermont 
to the author, a descendant of the old Chancellor, and now orna- 
ments the head of the stair-case in his dwelling at Chiddingstoue. 



118 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

In the year 1803, Thomas Jefferson, then President of tlie Unit- 
ed States, wrote tlie following letter, Avhich is of interest on many 
subjects, to Cliancellor Livingston, in Paris : 

"76» Hon. Robert R. Ijivingston." 

"Washington, November 4th, 1803. 
"Deau Siu : — A report reaches us this day from Baltimore, (on 
l)robable but not certain gi-ounds,) that Mr. Jerome Bonaparte, 
brother of the First Consul, was yesterday married to Miss Patter- 
son, of that city. The effect of this measure, on the mind of the 
First Consul, is not for me to suppose ; but as it might occur to 
him prima facie that the Executive of the United States ought to 
have prevented it, I have thought advisable to mention the subject 
to you, that if necessary you may by explanations set that idea to 
rights. You know that by our laM'S, all persons are free to enter 
into marriage if of twenty-one years of age, no one having a power 
to restrain it, not even tlieir parents ; and that under that age no 
one can prevent it but the parent or guardian. The lady is under 
age and the parents placed between her affections, which were 
strongly fixed, and the considerations opposing the measure, 
yielded with pain and anxiety to the former. Mr. Patterson is 
the President of the Bank of Baltimore, the wealthiest man in 
Maryland, perhaps in the United States, except Mr. Carrol, a mem- 
ber of great virtue and respectability. The mother is the sister 
of the lady of General Samuel Smith, and consequently the station 
of the family in society is with the first in the United States. 
These circumstances fix rank in a country where there are no 
hereditary titles." 

"Your treaty has obtained nearly a general approbation. The 
Federalists spoke and voted against it, but they are now so reduc- 
ed in their numbers as to be nothing. The question on its ratifi- 
cation in the Senate Mas decided by twenty-four against seven, 
which Avas ten more than enough. The vote in the House of 
Representatives for making provisions for its execution, was 
carried by eighty-nine against twenty-three, which was a majority 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 119 

of sixty-six, and the necessary bills are going througli the Houses 
by greater majorities. Mr. Pichon, according to instructions from 
his government, proposed to have added to the ratification a pro- 
testation against any failure in time, or other circumstances, of 
execution on our part. He was told that in that case we should 
answer a counter protestation, which would leave the thing exactly 
where it was ; that this transaction had been conducted from the 
commencement of the negotiation to this stage of it, with a frank- 
ness and sincerity honorable to both nations, and comfortable to 
the heart of an honest man to review. That to annex to this last 
chaj)ter of the transaction such an evidence of mutual distrust, was 
to change its aspect, dishonorably for us both and contrary to 
truth as to us, for that we had not the smallest doubt that France 
would punctually execute its part, and I assured Mr. Pichon that 
I had more confidence in the word of the First Consul than in all 
the parchment we could sign. He saw that we had ratified the 
treaty, that both branches had passed, by great majorities, one of 
the bills for execution, and would soon pass the other two ; that no 
circumstances remained that could leave a doubt of our punctual 
performance, and like an able and honest minister (which he is in 
the highest degree,) he undertook to do what he knew his emjiloy- 
ers would do themselves, were they here, spectators of all the exist- 
ing circumstances, and exchanged the ratifications pm-ely and 
simply. So that this instrument goes to the world as an evidence 
of the candor and confidence of the nations in each other, which 
will have the best efiects. 

"This was the more justifiable as Mr. Pichon knew that Sjiain 
had entered with us a protestation against the ratification of the 
treaty, grounded first, on the assertion that the First Consul had 
not executed the conditions of the treaties of cession ; and second- 
ly, that he had broken a solemn promise not to alienate the country 
to any nation. We answered that these were private questions 
between France and Spain, which they must settle together ; that 
we derived our title from the First Consul, and did not doubt his 
guarantee of it, and we, four days ago, sent off orders to the 



120 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Governor of tlie Mississippi Territory, and General Wilkinson, to 
move down with tlie troo})s at hand to New Orleans, to receive 
the possession from M. Loussat. If he is heartily disposed to carry 
the order of the Consul into execution, he can probably command 
a volunteer force at New Orleans, and will havti tlie aid of ours 
also, if he desires it, to take possession and deliver it to us. If he 
is not so disposed we shall take the possession, and it will rest 
with the government of France by adopting the act as their own, 
and obtaining the confirmation of Spain, to supply the non-execu- 
tion of this stipulation to deliver and to entitle tliemselves to the 
complete execution of our part of the agreement. 

"Accept my affectionate salutations, and assurances of my con- 
stant esteem and respect. 

^'THOMAS JEFFERSON." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 121 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE FIKST INTRODUCTION OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

Another benefit conferred on nifinkind, will of itself convey the 
name of Chancellor Livingston to the remotest posterity: his co 
operation with Robert Fulton in effecting the successful applica- 
tion of steam navigation, the most important improvement since 
the invention of printing. By it the great community of nations 
is bound together by commercial and social intercourse ; the arts 
of war are made to yield to the profitable pursuits of peace, uni- 
versal civilization, universal education, and the benign influence 
of religion, conveyed to every land. 

The connection between Livingston and Fulton, says the lament- 
ed Clhiton, "realized to a great degree the vision of the poet. All 
former experiments had failed, and the genius of Livingston and 
Fulton, aided by Chancellor Livingston's public spirit, discernment 
and purse, created one of the greatest accommodations for the 
benefit of mankind. These illustrious men will be considered 
through all time as the benefactors of the world." 

I will here prove that Chancellor Livingston conceived the idea 

of applying steam as a motive power for boats some years before 

his connection with Fulton, for in 1797 Chancellor Livingston had 

employed a man by the name of Nisbet to construct a steamboat 
16 



122 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

at a i^lace south of Tivoli, lately called De Koven's Bay, wliicli 
boat was unsuccessful. In March, 1798, three years before Chan- 
cellor Livingston's appointment to France, where his connection 
with Fulton commenced, he had obtained from the Legislature of 
the State of New York a grant of the exclusive right to navigate 
by steam the waters within the limits of the State, for twenty 
years, provided he should produce and keep running at regular 
and convenient intervals, a boat of the average speed of not less 
than four miles an hour. 

So wild and impracticable did his scheme appear to the 
wiseacres of the Legislature, that they would with equal readiness 
have granted him the monopoly of travel to and from the moon, 
if he had asked for it. The bill was introduced into the House by 
Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, then a member of the Assembly. This 
was at the time of his experiments with Nisbet, and as we have 
seen, he failed to fulfil the conditions of the grant. But in 1803 
he obtained a renewal of it, on the express condition that he and 
his associate, Robert Fulton, should produce a boat of the requir- 
ed speed within two years. Failing again, the Legislature again 
renewed the grant, which they had probably concluded by this 
time as a standing joke, and were no doubt considerably sm-prised, 
Avlien, in 1807, the terms of the agreement, at that time existing, 
having been complied with, Livingston and Fulton became the 
monopolists of steam navigation on all the waters within the 
limits of the State of New York. 

In most of the Lives written of Fulton, all the credit of the first 
application of steam to boats is given to Fulton, and the Chan- 
cellor only named as supplying the funds to carry out Fulton's 
plans. This is all a mistake, as is proved that Chancellor Livings- 
ton conceived the idea and formed plans years before his connec- 
tion with Fulton ; that he had the Nisbet boat constructed under 
liis own plans, and that he had a wooden boiler constructed at his 
residence at Clermont, and that a wooden boiler was actually used 
on the first steamboat, Clermont, which you will see hereinafter 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 123 

described by a passenger on tlie first trip of tlie Clermont, whose 
letter will be introduced. 

Kenwick, in his "Life of Fulton," is the only author Avho gives 
credit where credit is due. "Chancellor Livingston, who had, by 
his own experiments, approached as near success as any other 
person, loho, before Fulton had attempted to navigate hy steam, 
and who had furuislied all the capital necessary for the experiment, 
had plans and projections of his own." Chancellor Livingston 
wrote Thomas Jefferson several letters giving his ideas and plans 
on the aj^plication of steam to the navigation of boats. A copy of 
one of these letters, in the Chancellor's own hand writing, and 
signed by himself, I have been so fortunate as to obtain from a 
grandson of his, which after being read Avill put to flight any 
belief my readers may have indulged in, that Robert Fulton Avas 
the first inventor of steam navigation. This important letter is as 
follows : 

"Cleemont, 26th Jan., 1799. 
"Dear Sir : — Surrounded as you at present are by the mists of 
politics, and those, too, partaking of the nature of physical fogs in 
their obscurity and the glooms they diflfuse on surrounding objects, 
I flatter myself it will not be unpleasant to you to let your eye 
rest for a moment upon a sj^ot inundated by a slight glimmering of 
philosophy. With this view I take the liberty to communicate to 
you and to ask your sentiments on the subject of an invention 
with which I have a few days past amused my leisure hours. 
Physicks and Mechanics never formed a more noble union than 
in the invention of the steam engine, whioh at once subjects the 
most i^owerful and the most common agents to serve man ; he 
reposes at ease while fire and water perform his most laborious 
tasks. The slow steps which this 'engine has advanced to its pres- 
ent state of improvement are really astonishing, considering how 
naturally most of those improvements would suggest themselves, 
and even now it appears to me extremely imperfect. Its first 
(iefect is the \yant of simplicity, in those forms of it in >vl4ch tl^e 



124 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

object is merely to raise water to no very great heights. As this 
case occurs very frejquently, it would be extremely desirable to 
have an engme so constructed as to cost little and not require the 
care and attention of an artist. 

"The second defect of Dr. Watts' machine, is the great loss of 
power by friction working Avith a dry piston, which must be 
rammed extremely tight ; he loses on that and on his working rod 
at least J of his power ; to this we must also add the friction of his 
air pump on and above the loss of power by the pressure of the 
atmosphere against it, and when to this is added the friction of 
the pumps, where water is to be raised Avhich amounts to ^ of tlie 
force applied, it will be found that near one-half of his poAver is 
lost even when his machine is applied, to-Avit, to the raising of 
water. 

"The third defect is the great loss of poAver in obtaining a circu- 
lar motion, Avhich can only be got by a Avrench or planner Avheel ; 
the latter he prefers in this case : supposing his gross poAver 2100, 
^ lost in friction, 700, leaves 1400. The friction of the air pump 
(exclusive of its opposition to the atmosphere,) is 89|-, the ftiction 
and inertia of the common beam, AA^liich Ave Avill call 50, leaves the 
Avhole poAver applied to the planner AAdieel about 1268| ; the fric- 
tion of the planner Avheel is ^ of this, Avhich leaA'-es about 951, but 
as in turning a Avrench by this means there are but tAvo points on 
Avhich the Avheels act Avith their full force, and tAvo in Avhich they 
do not act at all, but depend on the fly to enable them to pass, 
one-half then of the poAver on the mean between and 951, or 
475^ must be the Avhole poAver that remains of 2100 to turn the 
Avheel, so that about 3-5 of the Avhole poAver is throAvn aAvay, Avhen 
a circular poAver is sought by means of Watts' engine. I have 
attempted to remedy these several defects, Avith Avhat success you 
Avill judge when you com^jare my descri^^tion Avith the rough 
sketches I enclose. 

"First, to obtain a simple machine I take a box, or hogshead, 
of wood, Avell hooped and of sufficient strength; to this I connect 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 125 

in the manner hereafter mentioned a wooden tube, which serves 
as a pump, and is immersed in the water to be raised ; the box in 
the lower part of this passage to be small, and at the height to 
which the water is to be raised, say 20 feet, let there be a large 
chamber to hold a considerable quantity of water, with a valve 
that opens into it from the narrow part. To this let there be a 
nozel with a valve that opens outward ; from this chamber a pipe 
leads into the cylinder with a valve that opens inward into the 
box or cylinder. To have care that this must be placed not less 
than 30 feet from the surface of the water, below the pump, lest 
any Avater should rise into the cylinder. On the top of the pump 
must be a cock to let in air, that the water may run out of the 
chamber, the cylinder must be fitted with a valve through which 
the air and condensed water may be driven. A steam cock and a 
condensing cock, all of which may be worked by hand or by the 
water that the pump discharges by floats within the pump, or by 
a small Newcomb engine, on the top of the cylinder. Suppose 
the box, or cylinder, to contain 30 cubic feet, and the chamber of 
the pump to contain 10, — Avhen a vacuum is made in the cylinder 
the air Avill rush in from the pump to supply its place — that is to 
say, the air, which before occupied 10 feet, Avill now occupy forty 
and of course be f lighter in the pump than the external air ; if 
thus the weight of the atmosphere is equal to a column of 32 feet 
of water, the water in the pump must rise 24 feet. Wlien tlie 
steam is again let into the cylinder the valve of comnnmication 
will close, the air cock on the top of the pump must open, which 
will force the water out by opening the valve on the nozel of the 
l)ump, that the pressure of the air before kept close. Thus at every 
stroke 10 cubic feet of water will be discharged at the height of 20 
feet ; if a greater height is sought it may be done equally well by 
working several pumps at once, each communicating with the 
cylinder and raising the water from the reservoir of the others ; 
the cylinder being proportionally larger when compared to the 
contents of the pumps, 

• 



12G CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

"It is true tliat this engine wastes some steam, because the 
vacuum is only tlie difference between tlie contents of the cylinder 
and the contents of the pump, wliich we will call ^ ; but Dr. 
Watts' loses jL in friction, ^ of the remainder in the friction of 
the pump, and ^ in the opposition the air pump meets with from 
the atmosphere, so that in fact the machine recpiircs a smaller pro- 
portion of steam than his, to do the same work. As the cylinder 
is of wood and may be lined with mats or blankets, and covered 
with ashes or any otlier non-conductor, it will always be kept 
nearly the temperature of the steam ; the air which will be admitted 
being a bad conductor of heat, can carry off little of it ; the con- 
densing water Avill be the only active agent for this purpose, but 
as the wood or blanket will part Avith their heat but slowly, not so 
much by 4-5th parts of the heat Avill be lost in tliis engine, as Dr. 
Watts carrys his steam over double higher tlian the pressure of 
the atmosphere. Now boiling Avater will suffice for this engine, 
since all that is required is to raise the Avater. For a similar rea- 
son, and because of its cheapness, the boiler should be of woodAvith 
a furnace Avithin. I have made one in this Avay and find that 
when tlie steam is so hot as to raise a Aveight of 6 lbs. on a square 
inch, the Avood on the outside of a 2| inch plank is not so Avarm 
but that you may lay your cheek against it Avithout inconvenience. 
That I may not engross too much of your very valuable time at one 
period, I shall defer till my next a description of another engine, 
in Avhich I think I have the full poAver of Dr. Watt, Avithout losing 
any jjower by the friction of the piston, Avorking rod, or air 
pumps, and also another in Avhich the engine is applied to a circu- 
lar motion Avithout Moss by Aveight or planner Avheel. I must 
however afford you an opportunity of detecting the faults of this 
before I e.vpose a second child of fancy to your critical eye. How 
few people would believe that so long a letter should be addressed 
to you Avithout a Avord of politicks. 

"I am, dear sir, Avith the highest esteem, &c., yours, 

"ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON." 

• "Tiio:\iAs Ji'^FKEusoN, Esq'r," 



CLERMONT, OR LTYITsGSTON MANOR. 127 



CHAPTER XVIL 

STEAHI NAVIGATION AND SKKTCII OF FULTON. 

In 1801 Cliancellor Livingston went as Ambassador to France. 
It was in France tliat lie met Robert Fulton, who, like tlie Chan- 
cellor, had been experimenting in the application of steam to 
navigation. As Fulton is so nearly connected, both by marriage 
and by the union of inventive mind, with the Chancellor, it will 
not be out of place to give, before we proceed, a short sketch of 
him. The Chancellor's intimate acquaintance with Fulton was 
the commencement of a new era in the history of science. It was 
the union of congenial spirits — a junction of minds alike distin- 
guished for capacity, energy, and perseverance, and bent upon the 
same grand design, and from whose embrace sprung into being 
that mighty improvement, which, in its influence on Imman affairs, 
has outstripped all other efforts of modern times. -. 

Robert Fulton, who became connected with Chancellor Livings- 
ton in this great enterprise, Avas born at Little Britain, Lancaster 
County, in the State of Pennsylvania, in the year 1765 ; both his 
parents were of Irish descent. He went to England and placed 
himself under the tuition of Benjamin West, the artist. It has 
been remarked as a note-worthy coincidence that Benjamin West 
and Robert Fulton came into the world in the same vicinity, in 



128 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

what was at the time of their birtli a wild and uncultivated portion 
of the country. West was born at Sj^ringfield, Pennsylvania, in 
1738. 

Mr. West, the kind Quaker painter, received him with friendly 
hospitality, making him a sharer of his home and artistic resources. 
For several years. he followed the profession of an artist on his 
own account, but his head soon teemed with plans for the improve- 
ment of inland navigation and utility. Experiments had been 
made in England, Scotland and Wales, but all the experiments 
had virtually foiled until he met with Chancellor Livingston, who, 
with him, brought their united efforts to such a glorious termina- 
tion in 1807. 

About the time that Fulton lived with West he met witli Dr. 
Cartwright, who had contrived a steam barge, in England, which 
he explained to Fulton in 1793) others state it was in 1796 when 
Fulton was introduced to Dr. Cartwright, at Paris. Colden, the 
biographer of Fulton, states "that he made a drawing of an appar- 
atus for steam navigation in 1793, and submitted them to Lord 
Stanhope in 1795, ^v]\o was then experimenting Avith duck feet 
paddles, but never got beyond three miles an hour." Fulton 
addressed a letter to Lord Stanhope on the subject of some experi- 
ments in the application of steam to navigation, containing the 
views which were afterwards put in practice on the Hudson, and 
which, if heeded by the noble earl, "the important invention of a 
successful steamboat," says Professor Renwick, "might have been 
given to the world ten years earlier than its actual introduction." 

Fulton possessed much inventive genius, and in 1797 he jiassed 
over to Paris, with the design of bringing to tlie notice of the 
French Government his invention of the torpedo, a device for the 
blowing up of enemy's vessels by attaching beneath the water a 
copper canister of gunpowder, to be discharged by a gunlock and 
clockwork. He found his ingenious countryman, Joel Barlow, the 
poet, in the French capital, a kindred spirit with whom he formed 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 129 

an .acquaintance which, as in the case of West, was intimately 
continued for years under the same roof. FuUon availed himself 
of this opportunity to study the French, German and Italian lan- 
guages, and improve his acquaintance with the higher branches of 
mechanical science. Among other employments, he projected, it 
is said, two buildings for the exhibition of panoramas, the success 
of which owed much to his assistance. On the arrival of Chan- 
cellor Livingston in France, in 1801, as minister, he found a ready 
assistant in Fulton to the schemes of steam navigation in which he 
had been already engaged on the Hudson. Experiments were set 
on foot in the two following years which resulted in sufficient suc- 
cess in the movement of a boat of considerable size, propelled by 
steam on the Seine, to justify the prosecution of the w^ork in 
America. 

Fulton took notes in his memorandum book of all experiments 
for the accomplishment of steam navigation in England. After 
making experiments, aided with Chancellor Livingston's plans, 
mind and purse, they both returned to the United States, to com- 
plete and put in actual operation the united genius of these two 
great men. Fulton's genius took also a wide range. He was an 
excellent writer, and might have acquired fame as a painter had 
lie pursued the profession. He always retained an affection for 
art, from his early efforts at Philadelphia and first intimacy with 
West in London. When his friend Joel Barlow reproduced his 
early poem, "The Vision of Columbus," as the "Columbiad," in a 
costly quarto edition, the beautiful illustrations were planned by 
Fulton, and executed under his direction ; and it is to his pencil 
that we owe the characteristic portrait of the author prefixed to 
the work. From his will we learn that Fulton expended five 
thousand dollars for the engravings, printing of plates, and letter- 
press of the i)oem. He mentions this for the sake of resigning all 
property in the work to the widow of his friend, the author. He 
also in his will provides, in certain contingencies, for the gift of 

his pictures, of which he had a valuable collection, including 
17 



130 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

West's 02)liclia and King Lear, to a i^roposed National Academy 
at the seat of Governincnt. 

The amiable social qualities of Fulton arc remembered in New 
York by many yet living, who were his companions. "lie had 
too much sense," remarks his friend and biographer, Golden, "for 
the least affectation." "He was emphatically," adds his younger 
associate, Dr. Francis, "a man of the people, ambitious, indeed, 
but void of all sordid designs ; he pursued ideas more than 
money." His home in State street is spoken of as the seat of a 
genial hosi)itality. In person, he was tall and slender, but well 
proportioned. The portrait by West has a certain reserved look 
of the gentleman, with an air of meditation and refinement. 

When in the United States, after their return from France, Ful- 
ton had time in his leisure moments to court, or pay his attentions, 
to Miss Harriet Livingston, a relative of Chancellor Livingston, 
wlio, writes Professor Renwick, in his Life of Fulton, "was pre- 
eminent in beauty, grace and accomplishments. She liad speedily 
attracted the ardent admiration of Fulton, and this was returned 
by an estimate of his talent and geniiis amounting almost to enthu- 
siasm. Tlie epoch of their nuptials, the spring of 1808, was tliat 
ot Fulton's greatest glory. Everything, in fact, appeared to con- 
cur in enhancing the advantages of his position. Leaving out of 
view all questions of romance, his bride was such as the luost 
impartial judgment would have selected, young, lovely, highly 
educated, intelligent, possessed of what in those days was account- 
ed wealth. His long labors had been followed Avith success. 
Esteemed and honored even by those who had been most incredu- 
lous while his scheme was in embryo, he felt himself placed on the 
highest step of the social scale." 

Fulton after this date lost money in many enterprises he had 
entered into. The history of the first steamboat Ave will give in 
the next chapter. 

In these later years of his life, for unhappily he was now 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 131 

approaching its close, Fulton was mainly employed at New York 
in building and equipping, under the supervision of Government, 
his famous cannon-proof steam-frigate, named after him, the Ful- 
ton, and in perfecting his favorite devices of submarine sailing 
vessels, in connection with the torpedo warfare. The steam- 
fi-igate w\as launched in October, 1814, but its projector did not 
live to witness its completion. He may be said, indeed, to have 
been a martyr to the undertaking. His constitution, not of the 
strongest, was exposed to a severe test in mid-winter, in January, 
1815, in a passage across the Hudson, amidst the ice in an open 
boat. He was retm-ning from the Legislature of New Jersey, at 
Trenton, Avhither he had gone to give evidence in the protracted 
steamboat controversy. He w^as taken ill on his return home, and 
before he was fully restored, ventured out to superintend some 
work on the exi:>osed deck of the Fulton. This brought on 
increased illness, Avhicli speedily terminated in death, February 
24, 1815. 

Thus perished, at the age of fifty, in the midst of his labors, one 
of the most ingenious and eminent inventors, and his quiet grave 
is in our midst in New York, in the ftimily tomb of the Livings- 
tons, in the ground of Old Trinity. Adjoining, Wall street 
exchanges millions, borne on every sea on the wings of his enter- 
prise. Does she not owe her benefactor a monument ? 

Dr. John W. Francis, in his address before the New York 
Historical Society, and published in his work, "Old New York," 
thus describes Fulton, and it is a most fitting conclusion of my 
short sketch of him. He writes : "Fulton's patriotic spirit was so 
eminently American, his impulses so generous, and the intimate 
relations which he held with the Livingstons, many of whom were 
most anxious to secure the perpetuity of your institutions, all 
served to rivet liis aiFections to advance the great ends you had in 
view. Amid a thousand individuals you might readily point out 
Robert Fulton. He was conspicuous for his gentle, manly bear- 
ing and freedom from embarrassment, for his extreme activity, his 



132 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

height, somewhat over six feet, his slender, yet energetic form 
and well accommodated dress, for his full and curly dark brown 
hair, carelessly scattered over his forehead and falling round about 
his neck. His complexion was fair, his forehead high, his eyes 
large, dark, and penetrating, and revolving in a capacious orbit of 
cavernous depth ; his brow was thick, and evinced strength and 
determination ; his nose was long and prominent, his mouth and 
lips were beautifully proportioned, giving the impress of eloquent 
iitterance. Trifles were not calculated to impede him or damp his 
perseverance. His hat might have fallen in the water, and his 
coat be lying on a pile of lumber, yet Fulton's devotion was not 
diverted. 

"I shall never forget that night of February 24tli, 1815, a frosty 
night indeed, on which he died. Dr. Hosack, with whom I was 
associated in business and who saw him in consultation with Dr. 
Bruce, in the last hours of his illness, returning home at midnight 
from his visit, remarked : 'Fulton is dying ; his severe cold, amidst 
the ice in crossing the river, has brought on an alarming inflamma- 
tion and glossitis. He extended to me,' continued the Doctor, 
'his generous hand, grasping mine closely, but he could no longer 
speak.' I had been with Mr. Fulton at his residence but a short 
time before, to arrange some papers relative to Chancellor Livings 
ton and the floating dock erected at Brooklyn. Biisiness dispatch- 
ed, we entered upon the character of West, the painter, the 
Columbiad of Barlow, and the great pictures of Lear and Ophelia, 
which he had deposited in the American Academy. This inter- 
view of an hour with the illustrious man has often furnished 
grateful reflections. At the time the Clermont steamed her Avay 
from New York to Albany, on September 7th, 1807, not another 
steamboat was in successful operation throughout the globe. Well 
might the eloquent Gouverncur Morris exclaim, in his inaugural dis- 
course before your Society : 'A bird hatched on the Hudson will 
soon people the floods of the Wolga ! and cygnets, descended from 
an American Swan, glide along the surface of the Caspian Sea.' " 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 133 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

STEAM NAVIGATIOX, COXTIXUEU. 

In May, 1786, John Fitch had constructed a steam packet which 
made several trijDS between Philadelphia and Trenton, but on a 
diflerent plan from Livingston and Fulton's, as it had not paddle 
wheels but what might be called side propelling oars. But less for- 
tunate than Robert Fulton, he found no Livingston to aid him and 
died broken hearted, so unbefriended indeed that to this day it is 
not known where he is buried. "We do not mean to intimate that 
Fulton was merely fortunate, for he was a man of great and origi- 
nal mechanical genius, and Remvick, in his Life of Fulton, has 
shown clearly enough that Fitch's engine, although very ingenious, 
was not susceptible of such improvements as would ever have made 
it of much practical use. He goes so far as to say that if Fulton 
and Livingston had failed. Fitch would never have been heard of. 

Two years later than Fitch's experiment, in 1789, a steamboat 
sixty feet long, which made seven miles an hour, had been tried 
on the Forth and Clyde canal and abandoned, because of the dam 
age it was feared would be done to the artificial banks of the 
canal by the waves produced from the movement of the paddle 
wheels. The maker of this boat, after Fulton w\as dead, accused 
him of having stolen his invention from him, but there is no reason 
for believing the charge. Chancellor Livingston's and Nesbit's 



134 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

boat was, as stated, not siiccessful. This experiment derived 
additional interest from the fact tliat the engineer Avas Brunei, 
aftenvards the engineer of the Thames tnnnel, a Frenchman who 
had sought refuge in the United States from the revolution of 
1793. 

In 180G Chancellor Livingston and Fulton, after having S2)ent 
many years and much money in cxi^eriments, had at last resolved 
upon a plan, and commenced in that year to construct at the ship- 
yard of Mr. Brown, in New York, a boat to be propelled by steam, 
somewhat similar but larger than the one they had built in France. 
This boat they afterwards named the "Clermont," so named after 
Mr. Livingston's home on the Hudson. It was launched in Au- 
gust, 1807, and on the following 7th of September, set out on her 
first trial trip to Albany, amid the shouts of the hitherto unbeliev- 
ing multitude that crowded the banks of the river, all filled with 
an interest as intense as was ever excited by any invention. In 
fact most all inventions have crept noiselessly forth from the brain 
that nursed them, but this one was greeted with shouts of wonder 
and exultation, and "Fulton's folly," as the boat had long been 
derisevely called, when in building, became now the eighth wonder 
of the world as she ploughed the waters of a river that not quite 
two hundred years before was unknown to the civilized world. 

The steamboat Clermont was one hundred feet long, twelve feet 
wide, and seven feet deep. The engines were constructed at the 
works of Boulton & Watt, at Birmingham, England, and finished 
in August. The whole exj^ense of this vessel, by the contract 
between Chancellor Livingston and Fulton, both for vessel and 
engines, was to be paid by the former xmtil the experiment met 
Avith success. Mr. Fulton thus described to a friend the disheart- 
ening circumstances under which the construction of the first 
steamboat, nicknamed by his fellow-countrymen, "Fulton's Folly," 
was patiently persevered in by himself So Noah Avlien he 
was building his ark was make a laughing stock, but the laugh 
was soon turned into a stern reality. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 135 

Fulton writes to a friend as follows : "When I was building my 
first steamboat, at New York, the j^roject was viewed by the 
public, either with indifference or with contempt as a visionary 
scheme. My friends indeed were civil, but they were shy. They 
listened with patience to my explanations, but with a settled cast 
of incredulity on their countenances. Never did a single word of 
encouragement, or of bright Iwpe, or a warm wish cross my path. 
Silence itself was but politeness, veiling doubts or hiding its 
reproaches." 

Fulton's biogi'apher describes the trial : "Before the boat had 
made the progi'ess of half a mile the greatest unbeliever was con- 
verted, (this was on Friday afternoon, September 4th, 1807.) 
Fulton was received with shouts and acclamations of congratula- 
tion and applause. She made this her first voyage from New York 
to Albany, 154 miles, at the average rate of five miles an hour, 
stopping for some time at Chancellor Livingston's dock, at Cler- 
mont, to take in wood. The whole voyage up the river was one 
continued triumph. The vessel is described as having the most 
terrific appearance. The diy pine wood fuel sent up many feet 
above the flue a column of ingnited vapor, and when the fire was 
stirred tremendous showers of sparks. The wind and tide were 
adverse to them, but the crowds saw with astonishment the vessel 
rapidly coming toward them, and when it came so near that the 
noise of the machinery and paddles was heard, the crews of many 
sailing vessels shrunk beneath their decks from the terrific sight, 
while others prostrated themselves and besought Providence to 
protect them from the approach of the horrible monster which was 
marching on the tide and lighting its path by the fire that it 
vomited." 

Mr. Dyer had sailed in the Clermont and remembers the sensa- 
tion created by her appearance, and the high admiration bestowed 
on the projectors of so great an enterprise. That sensation in 
1807 was the same precisely the Margery some years afterwards 
created among the crews of the vessels of the Thames River, in 



13G CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

1815. In 1816 the Marquis de Jauffray complained that Livings- 
ton and Fulton's vessel on the Seine had taken the paddle wheels 
invented by him and used at Lyons thirty-four years previously, 
but abandoned by him. To this charge Monsr. Royon rei)lied in 
the Journal des Debats thus : "It is not concerning an invention 
l)ut the means of applying a power already known." 

The application of steam to navigation had been thought of by 
all inventors, but the means of applying it were wanting until 
Chancellor Livingston and Fulton made this much needed appli- 
cation. As we are now engaged upon the subject of the first 
steamboat I Avill give all the facts and incidents I have been able 
to collect in relation to her, as the accounts are various and differ 
in many particulars of this first navigation of the river Hudson, 
whose mountains, hills, and valleys now echo with the shrill 
whistle of the iron horse, and whose banks are bordered Avith the 
still more wonderful invention of the Telegraph. If Kip Van 
Winkle hud lived in these progressive days he would have quickly 
been awakened, even in the most inmost recesses of the Katsbergs. 

It is stated on the authority of Capt. E. S. Bunker, that the Cler- 
mont, or experiment boat, was in 1808 lengthened from 100 to 
150 feet, and Avidened to 18 feet, and her name changed to North 
River. The engine was constructed in Birmingham, as stated. 
In August, 1807, the boat was propelled by steam from the East 
River to Jersey City, and on the 7th of September, 1807, started 
on her first trip to Albany. The following advertisement was 
taken from the columns of the Albany Gazette, dated September 
2d, 1807: 

"The North River Steamboat will leave Pauler's Hook, now 
(Jersey City,) on Friday, the 4th day of Sei^tember, at 9 o'clock in 
the morning, and arrive at Albany on S.aturday at 9 in the eve- 
ning. Provisions, good berths, and acconnnodations are provided. 
The charge for each passenger will be as follows : 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 137 



To Newburgh, . . . 
" Poughkeepsie, 

" Esopus, 

" Hudson, 

" Albany, 


. 14 Hours, . . 
.17 " .. 
.20 " .. 
.30 " .. 
.36 " .. 


..Fare, 

a 


$3 

$4 


a 


$5 


a 
a 


$51 

$7 



For places apply to William Vandervoort, No. 48 Courtlandt 
Street, on the corner of Greenwich Street. 

The following is from the New York Evening Post, dated 
October 2, 1807.: 

"The newly invented steamboat, which is fitted up in a neat 
style for passengers, and is intended to run from New York to 
Albany as a packet, left here this morning Avith ninety passengers 
against a strong head wind, notwithstanding which it was judged 
she moved through the water at the rate of six miles an hour." 

An interesting reminiscence of the first voyage south of this 
vessel was recently communicated to an American paper. "A 
gentleman from New York happened to be in Albany at the time 
the Clermont first arrived there. He found that the vessel was a 
general object of wonder, but that few people seemed willing to 
trust themselves to it as a means of conveyance. He however 
determined to embark for a trip down the Hudson in this new 
steamer. He therefore proceeded on board to secure his passage, 
and in the cabin he found a plain gentlemanly looking man, quite 
alone, and engaged in writing. This was Fulton, and the follow- 
ing dialogue took place : 

Stranger. — Do you intend to return to New York with this 
boat ? 

Fulton. — We mean to go back with her, Sir. 

Stranger. — Can I have a passage. 

Fulton. — Yes, if you choose to take a chance with us, Sir ! 

Seven dollars were then paid as passage money. With his eye 
fixed on the money, which he retained in his open hand, Fulton 
remained so long motionless that the stranger supposed that he 

had miscounted the sum, and asked "is that right sirf This 
18 



138 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

roused the projector from his reveries, and as he looked up, the big 
tear was brimming in his eye, and his voice faltered as he said : 
"Excuse me, sir, but memory was busy as I contemplated this 
among the first pecuniary rewards I have received for all my exer- 
tions in adapting steam to navigation. I would gladly commemo- 
rate the occasion over a bottle of wine with you, but really I am 
too poor for even that, just now. Yet I trust we may meet again 
when this will not be so." They did meet again four years after- 
wards. Fulton had not forgotten the incident, and at thd second 
meeting that wine was not spared. 

The Clermont made her first passage from New York to Albany 
in thirty-two hours, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. 
On her return to New York, a few days after, the voyage was made 
in thirty hours. A passage from the letter of Fulton to his friend 
Joel^Barlow, affords an interesting memorial of the occasion. 
After stating that the voyage had turned out rather more favor- 
ably than he had calculated, and remarking that, with a light 
breeze against him, he had, solely by the aid of the engine, "over- 
taken many sloops and schooners beating to windward, and parted 
with them as if they had been at anchor," he adds, "the power of 
propelling boats by steam is now fully proved. The morning I 
left New York, there were not perhaps thirty persons in the city 
who believed that the boat would ever move one mile an hour, or 
be of the least utility ; and while we were putting oflT from the 
wharf, which was crowded with spectators, I heard a number of 
sarcastic remarks. This is the way in whicli ignorant men com- 
pliment what they call philosophers and projectors. Having 
employed much time, money and zeal in accomi^lishing this work, 
it gives me, as it will you, great pleasure to see it fully answer my 
expectations. It will give a cheap and quick conveyance to the 
merchandise on the Mississippi, Missouri and other great rivers, 
which are now laying open their treasures to the enterprise of our 
countrymen ; and although the prospect of personal emolument 
has been some inducement to me, I feel infinitely more pleasure 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 139 

in reflecting on the immense advantage my country mil derive 
from the invention." 

I here insert another letter of Fulton. The original letter is 
in possession of Persen Brink, Esq., of the town of Saugerties, 
Ulster county, and a copy of it was sent to the Kingston Argus 
for publication. It is as follows : 

"Neav York, Oct. 9, 1807. 
"Capt. Beink. — Sir : — Inclosed is the number of voyages which 
it is intended the boat should run this season. You may have them 
published in the Albany papers. As she is strongly made, and 
every one except Jackson, under your command, you must insist 
on each one doing his duty, or turn him on shore and put another 
in his place. Every thing must be kept in order — every thing in 
its place, and all parts of the boat scoured and clean. It is not 
sufficient to tell men to do a thing, but stand over them and make 
them do it. One pair of good and quick eyes is worth six pair of 
hands in a commander. If the boat is du'ty or out of order, the 
fault should be yours. Let no man be idle when there is the least 
thing to do, and make them move quickly. 

' Run no risque of any kind ; when you meet or overtake vessels 
beating or crossing your way, always run under their stern, if 
there be the least doubt that you cannot clear their head by 50 
yards, or more. 

Give the amount of receipts and expenses every week to the 

Chancellor. 

Your most obedient, 

ROBERT FULTON. 

In Miller's new Guide Book to the Hudson River, I found and 
made the following extracts : "Opposite Maiden the traveler may 
get a peep at Clermont, the seat of the late Chancellor Livingston, 
with whose family so many of the wealthy people of this neighbor- 
hood are connected by marriage. Robert R. Livingston, the 
Chancellor of the State of New York, perhaps as well known for 



140 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

his connection with Robert Fulton, as well as for his own virtues 
and talents, was descended from a good Scotch family, proud we 
beHeve of tracing their blood back to the Earls of Linlithgow. 
The Livingston jxatent of nobility is derived, not however from 
any Scotch Laird, but from their ancestor Robert, who was an able 
man, a true lover of his country, and one who did her good service, 
representing her abroad with honor, enriching her by the assis- 
tance his vast w^ealth and generosity enabled him to give to all 
plans for improving her material resources, and above all by the 
efficient help he gave to Fulton in the introduction of steam 
navigation." 

Chancellor Livingston and Fulton had no idea of the benefits 
they conferred on man. Indeed, up to this time, as remarked by 
Professor Renwick, "although the exclusive grant had been sought 
and obtained from the State of New York, it does not appear that 
either Fulton or his associate had been fully aware of the vast 
opening which the navigation of the Pludson presented for the use 
of steam." The demand for travel soon outran the narrow accom- 
modations of the Clermont, now put upon her regular trips upon 
the river ; another vessel was built, larger and of finer appoint- 
ments ; punctuality was established, and the brilliant steamboat 
service of the Hudson fairly commenced. 

This new vessel Avas named the North River, and was the old 
Clermont re-built. I have found the following letter which was 
wi-itten by the late Francis Sayre, Esq., of the village of Catskill. 
He was the last surviving member of the company who embarked 
on the North River, on her first trip from New York. The letter 
will be found an interesting reminiscence : 

"Catskill, September, 1857. 
"I am, as far as I know, the only person now living who was on 
board the first steamboat on her first trip from New York to 
Albany. I do not refer to the trial trip which Avas made in 1807, 
in what may be termed a scow, but to the first trip made by the 
old North River, the first passenger boat propelled by steam, 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 141 

"The craft employed by Mr. Fulton, on the 'trial trip,' (called 
the Clermont, but probably never registered,) was taken to what 
was then called lower Red Hook, and in the Winter of 1807 and 
1808 was hauled out on ways to be enlarged and converted into a 
commodious steamboat. The alterations and enlargement were 
made by ship-carpenters of the city of Hudson during the winter 
and sjOTng. She was launched about the 1st of May, and called the 
North River. She was taken down to New York by Capt. Sam- 
uel Jenkins, who had her in temporary charge, until Capt. after- 
wards styled 'Commodore,' Wiswall, should be able to assume the 
command. On arriving at New York she was taken to the dock 
at the foot of Dey street, (then far up town,) where the machinery 
was put on board, and the cabin and carpenter's work were com- 
pleted. This was done with a rapidity Avhich in those days was 
considered extraordinary, Mr. Fulton himself overseeing and 
attending to every part. He was usually on board as early as five 
o'clock in the morning, and would be there almost the entire day. 
I never knew a more industrious, indefatigable, laborious man. 

" 'Fulton's new steamboat' was the wonder of the day. She was 
visited daily by hundreds of the curious, who asked many queer 
questions in relation to the operation of the steam and machinery ; 
one of these almost invariably was, 'Where and how was the 
steam to be conveyed to the water wheel ?' The crowd of visitors 
became a great annoyance and hindrance to those employed on 
board, and I recollect a very amusing incident, connected with the 
attempt to prevent intrusion. Mr. Fulton directed a painter to 
letter a board with the words, 'One dollar for any person to come 
on board without liberty,' which was put up in a conspicuous place. 
One day a sailor came along and read the notice. Jack was not 
long in putting his construction upon it, and giving his quid a roll 
in his mouth, and with a laughing, knowing wink of the eye, 
jumped on board without ceremony, pointed to the board and 
accosted the man nearest him with 'Mister, who pays me that dol- 
lar V Mr. Fulton was standing near and laughed heartily, a thing 
unusual with him, for he was generally, while among the men, 



142 CLEEMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

very taciturn and grave, giving his orders and directions in a 
laconic manner. He would listen, however, to suggestions made 
by the more j^ractical, and would often modify his orders to accord 
with such suggestions. During the time these preparations were 
going forward, trials were made of the working of the machineiy, 
by hauling out into the stream, putting on steam, and starting the 
engine. This was no small affair, for when the engineer gave the 
notice 'All ready,' all hands were called, carpenters, joiners, paint- 
ers, caulkers, laborers and crew, to prevent what is termed 'catch- 
ing on the centre.' During one of these trials, when going up the 
river at the rate of six or eight miles an hour, Mr. Fulton stood 
looking over the bow of the boat for fifteen or twenty minutes, 
intently watching the motion and speed of the boat, apparently 
wholly absorbed. Suddenly he wheeled and addressed a friend, 
who stood near him, with great enthusiasm, with 'My good friend, 
she is a fine boat, and our success is certain.' 

"Commodore Wiswall was now in command. At the hour 
appointed (9 o'clock, A. M.,) for her departure for Albany, Chan- 
cellor Livingston, with a number of invited friends, came on board, 
and after a good deal of bustle and no little 'noise and confusion,' 
the boat was got out into the stream and headed up the river. 
Steam was put on and sails were set, for she was provided with 
large square sails attached to masts that wereso constructed that 
they could be raised and lowered as the direction and strength of 
the wind might require. There was at this time a light breeze 
fi-om the South, and with steam and sails a very satisfactory rate 
of speed Avas obtained. Fast sailing sloops were passed with ease, 
the machinery worked finely, and everything seemed to promise 
well. After a time, however, it was discovered that steam was 
escaping from the boiler. This boiler was constructed of Avood, a 
cylinder, perhaps twenty feet long and ten in diameter, bound with 
heavy iron bands, with iron tubes extending from the lower part 
into the furnace. The heat imparted to the iron bands by the 
steam produced a shrinking of the wood directly under them, 
whilst the spaces between them would swell from moistivrc ira- 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 143 

parted by the steam, so that the edges of the planks would be 
uneven, leaving open spaces through which the steam escaped. 
How could the difficulty be obviated ? Resort was had to covering 
the boiler with blankets and carpets, which prevented the evil to 
some extent, and as the favorable wind continued, we kept on the 
even tenor of our way, and just before sunrise next morning we 
were at Clermont, the residence of the Chancellor, who, with his 
friends, landed and the boat proceeded to Albany, where she 
aii'ived at two or three o'clock, P. M. 

" 'Fulton's new steamboat,' was here, too, the wonder of the 
day, and was visited by great numbers. There seemed to be but 
one opinion, viz : A member of one of the largest freighting estab- 
lishments in the city of Albany, which relied upon the carrying of 
passengers to and from New York for a material part of its income, 
in conversation with the writer remarked, sneeringly, 'Fulton will 
never succeed, but it is well enough for him to make the experi- 
ment. He is only sporting with the Chancellor's money, v/ho has 
enough to experiment upon without injuring him. Within two 
yeai'S this same gentleman was a large stockholder in the opposi- 
tion boat started by an association in Albany. These boats, how- 
ever, were in a short time laid up under an injunction issued by 
the Chancellor, and were never afterwards run on the river ; so 
that my friend lost almost the whole of the money he ventured in 
experimenting on the rights of others. 

"After two or three days' stay in Albany spent in making some 
repairs and alterations, in the machineiy, caulking the boiler to 
prevent the escape of steam, and supplying deficiencies discovered 
on the passage up the river, the return passage was commenced 
and prosecuted with about the same speed and success. When 
within about thirty miles of New York, the tubes that ran from 
the boiler into the furnace, one after another gave way until the 
fires were entirely extinguished, and the remainder of the passage 
was made by the use of the sails. On arriving at New York she 
was laid up until a new boiler could be constructed, which was 



144 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

done of heavy sheet copper in about two months time, when she 
was again started. From that time slie accomplished her trips 
regularly, but how differently from the boats of the present day. 
Instead of making a passage in nine or ten hours, she consumed 
from twenty-four to thirty. The landings were effected with 
much trouble and great loss of time, and no little teiTor to those 
of weak nerves. 

"And now, starting from the days of the 'first steamboat,' and 
tracing events up to the present time, I feel as if I had lived in a 
very important era in the world's history ; I think it hardly possi- 
ble that one starting, at this day, on a pilgrimage of seventy-five 
years, will witness anything like the improvements in the arts and 
sciences, in intercommunication throughout the wide world, and in 
facilities for carrying on commercial enterprises. 

Robert Fulton constructed a steamer of 2,740 tons, in 1813, 
built for hai'bor defence, and launched in that year, and was used 
as a defence against the British in the last war with England. It 
will be seen by drawings of Fulton's plans that he had tried the 
other kinds of propellors, the chain float, duck's foot, and the screw 
fan, before adopting the paddle Avheel, for although the screw was 
good in principle it was many years before it could be constructed 
to act efficiently. But the Clermont soon had a comjietitor ; within 
a short time Mr. Stevens, of Hoboken, launched a steamboat, 
which, as she could not ply on the waters of the Hudson in conse- 
quence of the exclusive patent of Fulton and Livingston, he took 
roimd to the Delaware River, and this was the first steamer that 
ever braved the tides of ocean. 

John Stevens, who, in common apparently with all the distin- 
guished men of the time, had married a relative of Livingston, 
and had been experimenting at Hoboken with a steamboat similar 
to Fulton's, which he finished only a few weeks after the latter 
had made a successful trij), thus securing the monopoly we have 
mentioned. Stevens named his boat the Phojuix. He afterwards 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 145 

produced a boat cajDable of making thirteen and a-lialf miles an 
horn*. 

We noAv close our sketch of the first steam navigation, and 
those that now ride along the banks of our beautiful river Hudson, 
at the rate of thuty-five miles an hour, will not very much envy 
the traveler of days gone by in the old cold stage coach or sleigh 
in winter, or the long voyage up the river in the Clermont during 
the season of navigation. So much for these days of progress. 

If some of the old inhabitants of the town of Clermont could 
return from the other world, with what amazement would they 
view the banks of the Hudson, so closely built up with sj^lendid 
residences, and behold the railroad and telegraph, those two ii'on 
bands that now encircle and bind together, as one, all parts of the 
civilized world. Who knows what the next century may bring 
forth ? We may, who now inhabit this earth, seem to those who 
will inhabit it in our stead a hundred years from'now, to be as 
much behind the then age, as our forefathers now appear to have 
been to us. For as surely as the age of the ancient Knickerbock- 
ers and Rip Van Winkles has departed, so surely will wonders 
and inventions never cease. 



/ 



146 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR, 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CHANCELLOR LIVINGSTON AS AN ORATOR, AND CLOSE OF HIS LIFE. 

The leisure hours of Chancellor Livingston were devoted to 
every variety of science, arts, and literature. He was a man that 
filled a great space in the eyes of all the American people. The 
heroic authors of antiquity, Homer and Virgil, Demosthenes and 
Cicero, were among those which contributed to improve his taste, 
and expand his thoughts and feelings. His historical researches 
were various and extensive. All this was not effected without 
unremitted industry. Every intervt^ of time afforded from the 
duties and cares of public life was devoted with scrupulous fidelity 
to add to his akeady vast store of knowledge. Like the Chancel- 
lor D'Aguesseau, in variety of pursuit he found that relaxation 
which others seek in pleasure and amusement. 

The style of his oratory was chaste and classical, and of that 
persuasive kind which the father of poetry ascribes to Nestor. 
All who were witnesses testify to the mute attention with which 
he riveted his auditors. But he chiefly delighted in the pathetic, 
and often by his appeals to the sympathies of his hearers counter- 
acted the most powerful prejudices. His acknowledged integrity 
and patriotism doubtless added force to all he uttered. Franklin 
termed him the American Cicero. In him were united all those 
qualities which, according to that illustrious Roman, are necessary 

in the perfect orator. 
19 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR, 147 

Thus it appears that the late Cliancellor Livingston was an 
active agent in the most momentous events that have influenced 
the destinies of mankind. Of the Congress of 1776, which resolv- 
ed tliat these States were free and independent, he was a distin- 
guished member, and belonged to that committee which framed 
the declaration of our giievances and rights, and which will trans- 
mit their names to the latest posterity. In the Convention of Ncav 
York, which formed the Constitution of our State, the best scheme 
of polity known to the world was devised by the wisdom of Liv- 
ingston, Jay, Hamilton, and Madison. The important actor in a 
negotiation which doubled our country in extent, and I trust has 
rendered it forever secure from foreign intrusion, and the coadju- 
tor in that noblest of all improvements in mechanics, by which 
time and space are annihilated, the invention of steam navigation. 

In Chancellor Livingston, to the proud character of integrity, 
honor and disinterestedness, were added the mild, yet ennobling 
features of religion ; an inquiring believer in its truths, an exem- 
plar of its gentle effects on the character, he daily sought its 
consolations and strengthened his pious resolution in the rich 
inheritance it promises. He was devoted to the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church from an enlightened preference of its doctrines and 
discipline, without hostile feelings to those who trust to other 
guides in religion. So he lived ; he had a strong faith in his 
Heavenly Father, a fervent hope for the life to come and a charity 
for all that never failed. These three sisters, faith, hope and 
charity, blended together to form as near as possible a perfect life 
and an enviable death. 

His person, says Dr. Francis, who knew him intimately, "was 
tall and commanding, and of patrician dignity. Gentle and cour- 
teous in his manners, pure and upright in his morals. His benefac- 
tions to the poor were numerous and unostentatious. In life 
without reproach, victorious in death over its terrors." 

The mental activity of Chancellor Livingston was continued to 
the last. A few days before his death he wi'ote a vaIual?lQ paper 



148 CLERMONT. OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

on Agriculture, for the American edition of "Brewster's Encyclo- 
pedia." After a life, every portion of wliicli was devoted to the 
benefit of his fellow man, he paid the last debt to nature at his 
seat at Clermont on the 26th of February, 1813. He was at the 
time of his death in the 66th year of liis age. He was buried in 
the old Manor vault of the Livingston family, at Clermont, and it 
grieves me to add that no suitable or fine monument marks his 
last resting place. But his life will ever be an enduring monu- 
ment in the hearts and affections of the American peoj^le, and 
united with the names of Washington, Hamilton, Jay, Madison, 
Jefferson, Franklin, and Lincoln, dear to our hearts and ever 
cherished at our hearthstones. Let us teach our children to emu • 
late or follow their examples, to love and revere their memories as 
every true American ought. 

"Who having won the bound of man's appointed years at last, 
Life's blessings all enjoyed, life's labors done. 
Serenely to his final rest has jjassed, 
While the soft memory of his virtues yet 
Lingers like twilight-hues when the britjht sun is set." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 149 



CHAPTER XX. 

HENRY B. LIVINGSTON, BROTHER OF THE CHANCELLOR. 

Henry Beekman, the second son of Judge Robert R. Livings- 
ton, and brother of Chancellor Livingston, was born at the Liv 
ingston Manor House, at Clermont, Columbia County, November 
9th, 1750, and married in March, 1781, to Miss Margaret Shippen. 
Of his earlier years I have been unable to obtain any records. 
He served in the war as Colonel from 1775 to January, 1779, was 
made a Brigadier-General at the close of the war, was voted a 
handsome sword by Congress, and received also the commenda- 
tion of General Washington for the bravery he displayed in his 
Northern campaign, when he served under his brother-in-law. 
General Richard Montgomery. Whilst in Canada, he became 
familiar with the French language. 

He was among the first to oppose the oppressions of the mother 
country, and to take up arms against Great Britain. He was with 
Montgomery at St. Johns, Montreal and Quebec. At the storm- 
ing of the latter stronghold, in December, 1775, he led one of the 
attacks against the upper town, and Major Brown another column 
which were intended merely as feints to distract the attention of 
the garrison, whilst Generals Montgomery and Arnold conducted 
the two real columns of attack against the lower town. He 
^saisted in the capture of the fort at Chamby, and otherwise dis^ 



150 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

tinguislied himself throiigh that eventful but disastrous campaign. 
In the battle of Stillwater, in 1777, the main body of the army 
was the right wing ; the left Aving was composed of the brigade of 
Gen. Poor, consisting of Cilley's, Scammel's, and Hale's regiments 
of New Hampshire ; Van Comtlandt's, and Lieutenant-Colonel 
Henry B. Livingston's, of New York, and two regiments of Con- 
necticut Militia. He was present and witnessed the surrender of 
Burgoyne and his fine army to General Gates, the happy termina- 
tion of the battles at Stillwater. He accompanied Arnold, in com- 
mand of his New York regiment, to the relief of Fort Schuyler, 
then held by Gansevoort, who was closely besieged by St. Leger 
with his force of British and Indians, but St. Leger retreated upon 
Arnold's approach. 

He afterwards commanded, as Ave Avill briefly relate, at Ver- 
plank's Point during the time of Arnold's treason. He maintained 
throughout his life the highest confidence of his felloAV-country- 
men. The Marquis de Chastelleux, avIio breakfasted Avith Col. 
Livingston, at Verplank's Point, Avrites of him in his journal, (1st 
Vol., page 94,) "This is a very amiable and well informed young 
man." In the spring of 1778 Lafayette Avas stationed at Albany. 
In March he went up to JohnstOAvn, from Avhich place he AAa-ote to 
Col. Gansevoort a letter dated March 6th, 1778. This letter Avas 
enclosed in a letter from Col. Livingston, of the same date, of 
Avhich the following is an extract : "Enclosed you have a letter 
from Major-General Marquis de Lafayette, relative to Col. Carle- 
ton, nephcAV to General Carleton, Avho has for some time been in 
this part of the country as a spy. The General apprehends he has 
taken his route by the way of Oswego, and begs you'll send out 
such parties as you may judge necessary for apprehending him." 

The following is Lafayette's letter : 

"Sm :— As the taking of Col. Carleton is of the greatest import- 
ance, I wish you Avould try every means in your poAver to have 
him apprehended. I have desired Colonel Livingston, who knows 
him, to let you have any intelligence he can give, and to join to 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 151 

them those I have got by a Toiy, about the dress and figure of 
Carleton. You may send as many parties as you please and 
everywhere you'll think proper, and do every convenient thing for 
discovering him. I dare say he knows that we are after him and 
has nothing in view but to escape, which I beg you to prevent by 
all means. You may promise in my name fifty guineas, hard 
money, besides all money, &c., they can find about Carleton, to 
any party of Soldiers or Indians who will bring him alive. As 
every one knows now what we send for there is no inconvenience 
to scatter (them) in the country, which reward is promised in 
order .to stimulate the Indians. 

"I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient servant, 

"THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE." 

Col. Carleton, it is believed, was not apprehended. When, in 
1700, Colonel Livingston had the command at Verplank's Point, 
he had but eighty men under arms, and there were but 3,086 in 
all at West Point and vicinity at the time of Arnold's treason, 
the number being stated in the papers found on the person of 
Major John Andre, after his capture. The papers given him by 
Arnold not only contained the number of the efiective forces of 
the garrisons but also the full account of the distribution of the 
forces in the vicinity of, and at West Point, to inform and enable 
Sir Henry Clinton, when making the proposed attack upon West 
Point, which was the weakest and most vulnerable spot. A link 
of the great chain at Constitution Island was also to have been 
removed, leaving the river open for the ascent of the British 
vessels. 

The British ship Vulture was anchored nearly opposite Ver- 
planck's^Point with Andre on board, who made known his place of 
retreat to Arnold, in the following manner : It was in the early 
forenoon of September 21st, 1780, that Arnold jiroceeded down 
the river in a small boat to Verplank's Point, and from there to 
Smith's House. At Verplank's Point, Colonel Livingston handed 



152 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

him a letter which lie had received under a flag of truce from 
Captain Sutherland of the British ship Vulture. The letter was 
dated the 21st of September, A. M., and pretended to remonstrate 
against an alleged violation of the rules of war by a band of men 
at Teller's Point. According to the letter a flag of truce had 
been shown at Teller's Point, inviting the ofiicers of the ship to 
come ashore on military business, but as soon as the boat neared 
the sliore it was fired upon by a concealed party of armed men 
hid in the brushwood on the bank. He had also sent a letter upon 
the same subject in question to Col. Livingston. Arnold's letter 
was in the writing of Major Andre, although signed by Captain 
Sutherland. 

Arnold at a glance understood the meaning of the letter, that 
Andre was on board the British vessel waiting for an oj^portunity 
to have a secret interview with him. Arnold found some plan to 
answer Andre's letter, and appointed a place and time for a meet- 
ing, which meeting took place in a wood on the bank of the river 
on the night of September 21st, and early morning of Sejitember 
22d, 1780. The light streaks of the early dawn of the 22d of Sep- 
tember appeared in the Eastern sky, yet Arnold and Andre still 
held their conference, and still there was much to be said and 
many plans yet to be formed by both. Smith had repeatedly 
warned them to make haste, but they moved not until the near 
approach of day convinced them that with the light came danger 
to their plans of darkness and treason. 

Andre, at length convinced of the importance of moving to a 
more secluded place, mounted a horse belonging to Ai'n old's servant, 
and concealing his own imiform by a long blue surtout coat, 
accompanied by Arnold, Smith, and Arnold's attendant, proceeded 
to Smith's house, (Avhich is still standing,) about four miles distant. 
It is a stone house and stands upon the ascent of a hill, named 
Treason Hill, a few rods West of the main road leading from 
Stony Point to Haversti-aw, and situated about mid-way between 
the above named places. In a room in the second floor of this 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 153 

house the sjiy and the traitor remained concealed during the day 
of September 22d. Andre felt great uneasiness on the way to 
Smith's house, as his being in the eneiny's lines without a flag or 
l^ass would subject him to the fate of a spy, if captured. The 
voices of the American sentinels and barking of dogs in the 
American lines near Haverstraw, filled the hearts of the party 
with fear, and it seemed to them the longest four miles that they 
had ever passed over. 

Ul^on their ariival at Smith's house the sound of cannonading 
Avas heard in the direction of the British ship Vulture. For the 
ever watchful Col. Livingston, at Verjilank's Point, seeing the 
Vulture anchored so near the shore, sent a party from Verplank's 
Point, and another party from Teller's Point, to fire upon the Vul- 
ture, which they did with light field pieces. This firing caused 
the Vulture to raise anchor and sail down the river out of range. 
Col. Livingston had, previous to this event, sent and asked Arnold 
at West Point for some heavy cannon, to enable him to destroy 
the Vulture, but Arnold refused the proposal, making some 
frivolous excuse. All the cannon Col. Livingston had was one 
field piece at Teller's Point, and one light four pounder at Ver- 
plank's Point. It was this light four pounder that saved West 
Point. 

He also sent to Colonel Lamb, at West Point, for a supply of 
ammunition, who complied rather unwillingly, with the answer, 
"that he thought it but a waste of powder to fire at a Man of War 
with a four pounder." But this very cannonade caused a deten- 
tion of Andre at Smith's house and his after capture, and thus 
West Point was saved. Col. Livingston made so good a use of 
his little four pounder that had it not been for a flood tide setting 
in, the Vulture would have been sunk. 

Andre was very anxious when he heard the firing, but they 

remained at Smith's house all that day, Avhere the whole plot was 

arranged. Andre was to return on horseback to the British lines 

on the East sicl^ of the river disguised as an American officer, an<l 
20 



154 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

supplied with passes from Ai-nold, and with all the important 
papers relating to West Point, placed in his stockings next his 
feet- The British troops were already embarked at New York 
under the pretext of going on an expedition to the Chesapeake, but 
in reality only waiting for Andi-e's an-ival to proceed up the river 
to West Point. Arnold had agreed so to disperse the ganison in 
diiferent du-ections, as if he feared an attack from the rear over 
the mountains, and send forces wherever he could, so as to leave 
but few men at any one point that could be concentrated together, 
thus enabling the enemy to take possession without meeting vrith 
much resistance. 

Andi-e proceeded down the river and was captured at Tarry- 
town, and West Point saved. Colonel Livingston saw Arnold 
pass Vei-plank's, in his boat, when he escaped to the Vultm'e, and 
he aftei-wards remarked that such was his suspicion of Arnold, 
that had any of his boats been ready at hand he would have gone 
after him to enquire his en-and. 

Lossing, in his excellent work, the Field Book of the Revolu- 
tion, gives the following: "The position of Col. Livingston, at 
Verplank's Point, with some circumstances that appeared suspi- 
cious, made him liable to be distrusted, for it might faii'ly be pre- 
sumed that he was directly or indirectly concerned in Arnold's 
movements. By a brief letter Washington ordered Col. Livings- 
ton to proceed to headquarters immediately. Conscious of his 
integrity that officer promptly obeyed, he expecting his conduct 
would be subjected to a strict investigation. Washington made 
no enquiries, but told him that he had more explicit orders to give 
than he could well communicate by letter, and that was the object 
of calling him to the Highlands. 'It is a gi*eat som-ce of gratifica- 
tion to me,' said the Commander-in-Chief, 'that the post was in 
the hands of an officer so devoted as yom'self to the cause of your 
coimtry.' Washington's confidence was not misi)laced, for there 
was not a pm-er patriot in that wai* than Hemy B. Livingston." 
He was a most worthy brother of the Chancellor. In Hunt's Life 



CLERMONT, OR LIYINGSTON MANOR, 155 

of Edward Livingston I found the following : "During Lafayette's 
triumphal visit to this country in Sej^tember, 1824, the steamboat 
James Kent was chartered by the citizens of New York to carry 
their illustrious guest upon an excursion to Albany, stopping 
wherever he might wish along the river. On the way up the 
paily sj^ent a morning with General Morgan Lewis and Gertrude 
Livingston, at their country seat at Staatsburgh, and passed the 
evening festively at Clermont, being entertained by the heir of 
Chancellor Livingston. After leaving Staatsburgh the Marquis 
inquired of Colonel Fish, 'Where is my friend Col. Harry Livings- 
ton f Soon afterwards, while the steamer was at Kingston dock, 
Col. Livingston having crossed the river in a small boat from 
Rhinebeck, came on board. As soon as their eyes met, the two 
friends, the Marquis and the Colonel, now old men, rushed into 
each other's arms, embraced and kissed each other, to the astonish- 
ment of the Americans present. The Colonel had served under 
Lafayette in Rhode Island and at Valley Forge." Colonel Liv- 
ingston lived a life of usefulness, and died at his residence in Co- 
lumbia County, November 5th, 1831, aged 81 years, all to four 
days. 



156 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XXL 

JOHN K. LIVINGSTON. 

The third son of Judge Robert R. Livingston, John R., Avas 
born February 13th, 1755, and was married to Margaret Slieaffe, 
in 1779,* and married a second wife, Miss Eliza J^fcEvers, in 1788. 
He had several children. He volunteered several times during 
the war and was very active in erecting powder mills to supply 
the army with the powder the country then so much needed. He 
lived a long and prosperous life, and was the last survivor of this 
numerous fomily. More than half a century ago he was one of 
our principal merchants, and lived in Broadway, New York, upon 
the site where Mrs. Plummer's Broadway House used to stand. 
He there lived in style and entertained with princely hospitality. 
Lie in after years retii-ed to his splendid estate in the town of Red 
Hook, Dutchess County, New York, on the banks of the Hudson, 
about a quarter of a mile from the present Barrytown Station. 
This fine country seat is now owned by Mr. John Aspinwall, who 
has put it in superb order. Here John R. Livingston expired in 
the month of November, 1851, aged 9G years, a most remarkable 
age, almost a century old. 

*''Margaret Slieaffe marriod John K. Livingston, then a Boston Merchant. She died in 
iJoston in 1784 at the a^e of twenty-four. 'So handsome no one couhl take her picture ' 
l.al<ayette visited and adinned lier. Ho said once to her h)ver, 'W ere I not a iiianicd 
man 1 would try to cut you out.' After his return to France the Marqni.s sent hor a 
satin cardinal, lined witli ermine, and an elegant silk garment to wear under it 'J'lui 
relic waa long preserved."— ifrs. jEWeJV (^iiec/w o/ Society. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 157 



CHAPTER XXII. 

BIRTH, YOUTH AND MARRIAGE OF EDWARD LIVINGSTON. 

Edward Livingston, the youngest son and youngest child of 
Judge Robert R. Livingston, whose large family, as before stated, 
consisted of four sons and seven daughters (one daughter dying in 
infancy,) was born at Clermont, Columbia County, NeAV York, on 
the 28th May, 17G4. All his brothers and sisters, with one excep- 
tion, lived to what might be called old age, or from sixty-six to 
ninety six years of age. Such a record is seldom found where all, 
members of one family live to the age of even sixty-six years. 
He, as well as all his brothers and sisters, were born under the 
government of Great Britain, and died under the free Republican 
form of government of the United States, which they as individ- 
uals, and as a ftimily, had given time, talent, and fortune to estab 
lish and erect upon its present firm basis. Hunt, in his life of 
Edward Livingston, states : "That Edward Livingston in mature 
life conceived the plan of writing a novel, in which the characters 
should be drawn faithfully from his own memories of the actual 
group, of which his grandfather was the central figure. He ap- 
pears to have written but one chapter. The fragment is headed 
with the couplet, 

"Scenes in sad remembrance set. 
Scenes never, never to return." 



158 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Edward Livingston when a boy was noted for the remarkable 
sweetness and gentleness of his disposition. Although too often 
the case that the youngest in most families turns out to be what is 
often called a spoiled or self-willed child, in his case it was not so. 
His first teacher, as we stated in our sketch of Chancellor Livings- 
ton, was the Dutch Reformed Clergyman, 'Dominie Doll.' He 
was about nine years of age when his eldest sister, Janet, was 
manied to the heroic General Richard Montgomery, who about 
two years after this left home on his Northern camj^aign. About 
this time Edward's father, the Judge, and his grandfather died, 
and as troubles never come single, soon after came the news of the 
death of General Montgomery before the walls of Quebec. There 
fore Edward's tender years were darkened by the clouds of sorrow. 

But in our baby life our feelings are not deep, and like the 
morning dew upon the flower, the sunshine of life soon dries up 
all tears. Edward soon after this was sent to a boarding school 
at Albany, and afterwards to another school at Esopus. Every 
Saturday he returned home to Clermont, walking the entire dis- 
tance of eighteen miles, and back again to school every black 
Monday morning. These walks improved his health and gave him 
the vigorous constitution which lasted throughout his life. The 
walk from Esopus to Clermont always appeared to him much 
shorter than the Monday return trip. His school was broken up 
for a time when the British advanced upon Esopus, and did so 
much damage, as related in a previous chapter. 

He was home at the time that his mother's house was burned at 
Clermont, and formed one of the number that retreated at the ap 
proach of the troops ; doubtless as a boy he enjoyed the excite- 
ment and confusion incidental to the removal and sudden depart- 
ure. It was in 1779 that he entered as a junior in Nassau Hall 
College, Princeton, New Jersey, and there he graduated in 1781, 
at the age of seventeen. In the Life of John Jay, by his son Wil- 
liam Jay, Vol. 1, Page 174, in a letter of his wiitten to Chancellor 
Livingston, from Paris in 1783, he writes : "I send you a bo.x of 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 159 

plaister cojiics of medals ; if Mrs. Livingston will permit you to 
keep so many mistresses, reserve the ladies for yourself, and give 
the philosophers and poets to Edward." 

After leaving college Edward studied law in the office of John 
Lansing, in Albany, who was afterwards the second Chancellor of 
the State of New York. Among Edward Livingston's fellow stu- 
dents were James Kent, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and 
many other men afterwards distinguished in their country's book 
of fjime. After leaving Albany he studied law in New York from 
1783 to 1785, in which latter year he commenced the practice of 
law. He devoted all his spare time to study. There numbered 
at this time in the city of New York only about forty members 
of the bar, amongst whom were Robert Troup, Egbert Benson, 
Brockholst Livingston, Melanthon Smith, Aaron Burr, Alexander 
Hamilton, Ogden Hoffman, and James Kent. 

The Com-ts were held in old Federal Hall, Wall Street. Edward 
Livingston resided with his mother in the winter season at No. 
51 Queen Street, (now called Pearl Street,) near Wall. Here he 
had his office in the basement front room. His mother removed 
to the Manor House at Clermont in summer, where Edward rejoin- 
ed her when business was slack enough to permit of his leaving 
the city. It was at this city mansion that Lafayette and many 
officers and distinguished men called in to spend a pleasant evening, 
and as all members of the fomily could speak the French language 
well, it made it agreeable to the French officers. 

Mrs. Livingston always retired early, at ten o'clock. But Mrs. 
Montgomery and some of her sisters would often join the guests 
at a game of whist, or unite in some brilliant and instructive con- 
versation. Mrs, Ellet, in her "Queens of American Society," thus 
writes of the pleasant society in New York in those good old 
times : "The dignity of office was then maintained by forms de- 
signed to inspu-e respect, and special regard was paid to the wives 
of men who had deserved much of their country. The widows of 



160 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Greene and Montgomery were always handed to and from their 
carriages by the President himself, the Secretaries and gentlemen 
of his household performing those offices for the other ladies. 
These New York gayeties in 1788 had been increased by numerous 
weddings in fashionable circles. M. de Marbois, French Charge 
d'Ai5aires, had married Miss Moore." 

About this time there figured in New York society three beauti- 
ful sisters, the daughters of Charles McEvers, Esq. The eldest 
"daughter, Mary, had smitten the heart of Edward Livingston, and 
this love was reciprocated by her. "It was at one of Mrs. Wash- 
ington's evening drawing rooms, owing to the lowness of the ceil- 
ing, the ostrich feathers in the head dress of Miss Mary McEvers, 
a distinguished belle in New York, took fire from the chandelier, 
to the general confusion and alarm. Major Jackson, Aid-de-Camp 
to the President, flew to the rescue and clapping the burning plumes 
between his hands extinguished them. This lady married Edward 
Livingston, the Minister to France." 

Edward Livingston was married to Miss McEvers on April 10, 
1788. From the time of this marriage to 1794 he led a quiet 
domestic life, free from care, and obtained a high reputation as 
one of the most eminent men in his profession in New York. In 
1794 his political life commenced, he being nominated and was 
elected as a Representative in Congress, to the fourth Congress of 
the United States. This election took place in December, 1794, 
and he was re-elected to the fifth and sixth Congress, in 1796 and 
1798. The city of New York at that time consisted of but one 
Congressional district. In the first election John Watts was his 
opponent, in the second James Watson, and in the third his rela- 
tive, Philip Livingston, 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 161 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

EDWARD LIVINGSTON IN CONGRESS. 

It Avas on the 7th of December, 1795, that Edward Livingston 
took his first seat in Congress. He belonged to the opposition 
party under both the administrations of Washington and Adams. 
He made but few speeches, but what he did say was always digni- 
fied and to the point, free from abuse of those that differed from 
him in opinion, evidently thinking and acting up to the idea that 
every man is entitled to have and express an opinion of his own. 
Among the members of the House of Representatives at that time 
were Fisher Ames, Theodore Sedgwick, of Mass., Albert Gal- 
latin, of Penn., William B. Giles and James Madison, of Virginia, 
and Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee. 

In 1796 Edward Livingston presented a measure for the protec- 
tion of American Seamen who had been impressed into the English 
service. He succeeded, but not without opposition, in the passage 
of the Act in May, 1796. In March and April of that year, great 
debates and much excitement occurred in the House, over the pro- 
posal to make an appropriation to carry into efiect Mr. Jay's treaty 
with Great Britain. On the 19th of March Mr. Livingston rose 
to speak, which speech occupied nearly one day. The following 

is a lively passage from it ; 
21 



162 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

"Thus to whatever source of argument we refer we find the 
constitutional power of this House fully established. Whether we 
recur to the words of the constitution where the power is express- 
ly given, and is only to be lost by implication ; whether we have 
recourse to the opinions of the majorities who adopted the consti- 
tution, to the uniform practice under it, to the opinions of om* con- 
stituents as expressed in their petitions, or to the analagous pro- 
ceedings in a government constructed in this particular like our 
own ; yet after all this we are told that if we question the suprem- 
acy of the treaty making power we commit treason against the 
constitutional authorities, and are in rebellion against the govern- 
ment. These are gi'ave charges and made in improper language. 
I have not been so long in public life as these gentlemen who 
make them, but I will boldly pronounce them unparliamentary and 
improper. Besides this language is wi'ong in another view ; it may 
frighten men of weak nerves from a worthy pursuit. For my own 
part when I heard the member from Vermont compare the 
authority of the President and Senate to the Majesty of Heaven, 
and the proclamation to the voice of thunder ; when he appealed 
to his services for his country and showed the wounds received in 
her defence ; when he completed his pathetic address by a charge 
of treason and rebellion, I was for a moment astonished at my own 
temerity. His eloquence so overpoAvered me that 

Methought the billows spoke and told me of it, 
The winds did sing it to me, and the thunder. 
That deep and dreadful organ pipe, pronounced 
The charge of treason. 

I was, however, relieved from this trepidation by a moment's 
reflection, which convinced me that all the dreadful consequences 
arose from the gentleman's taking for granted that which remained 
to be proved. He had only assumed that the measure was uncon- 
stitutional and the rest followed of course. From my soul I honor 
the veteran who has fought to establish the liberties of his country. 
I look with reverence on his wounds, I feel humbled in his pres- 
ence, and regret that a tender age did not permit nie to share hia 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 163 

glorious deeds. I can forgive anything that such a man may say 
when he imagines the liberty for which he has fought is about to 
be destroyed, but I cannot extend my charity to men who, with- 
out the same merits, coolly re-echo the charge." 

The above is but a very short specimen of the power of Edward 
Livingston as an orator. But we do not propose in our short 
sketches of these distinguished men to give lengthy debates. 
Our limits and the purposes of this work would be destroyed by 
so doing, but we merely wish to state facts in as concise a manner 
as possible. Mr. Livingston was re-elected to a second term in 
Congress by a majority of 550 votes. Alexander Hamilton labor- 
ed veiy hard to defeat him, endeavoring to elect his friend, Mr. 
James Watson. In 1798 the Naval Department was established 
by law. The Federalists favored it an(i the Republicans opposed 
it. Mr. Livingston on the side with his party spoke and voted in 
opposition to it, but it passed the House by a small majority. He 
also opposed two laws called the Alien and Sedition laws, both 
passed by that Congress. 

In 1798 Mr. Livingston presented a measure, which passed in 
Congress, for the payment of an annuity to each of the four 
(oi-jihan) daughters of the Count de Grasse — an annuity of about 
$400 a year to each for the term of five years. Mr. Livingston 
was re-elected for the third time to Congress in April, 1798, with 
a majority of 175 votes. He was not a candidate for the Seventh 
Congi-ess, and was succeeded by Dr. S. L. Mitchell. At this time 
Thomas Jefierson was elected President of the United States. The 
electoral vote stood as follows : Mr. Jefierson 73 ; Mr. Burr 73 ; 
Mr. Adams 65 ; Mr. Pinckney 64 ; and Mr. Jay 1. The vote for 
Mr. Jefierson and Mr. Burr being a tie, had to be voted over by 
the Representatives in Congress. On the thirty-sixth ballot Jefier- 
son received the vote of ten States, and Bun* of four States, and 
two blanks. Mr. Jefierson was therefore declared President, and 
Mr. Burr, Vice President. Mr. Livingston was a very strong ad- 
herent for Thomas Jefierson. 



104 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

EDWARD LIVINGSTON, ATTORNEY FOR UNITED STATES AND MAYOR OE 

NEAV YORK. 

• 

On the 13th of March, 1801, Mr. Livingston lost his beloved 
wife which loss left him a widower with three children, viz : Cliarles 
Edward, born in 1790, Julia Eliza Montgomery, born in 1794, and 
Lewis, born in 1798. Li his Bible he made the following record 
of his wife's death : "On the 13th of March, 1801, it pleased Heav- 
en to dissolve a union which for thirteen years it had blessed with 
its own harmony ,with an uninterrupted felicity rarely to be met 
with ; formed by mutual inclination in the spring of life, it was 
cemented by mutual esteem in its progress, and was terminated by 
a stroke as sudden as it was afflictive." 

In the same year, 1801, he received from Mr. Jefferson the 
appointment of Attorney of the United States, for the District of 
NcAV York, and Avas soon after selected as Mayor of the city of 
New York, and entered upon that office the 2-4th day of August, 
1801. The population of New York at that time was about fifty 
thousand. Before him DeWitt Clinton and Richard Varick had 
both occupied the office. Mr. Varick had been removed by the 
Republican party in New York and Albany to make room for Mr. 
Xiivingston, which caused great dissatisfaction in the ranks of the 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 165 

Federalists who gave a public dinner to Mr. Varick. Mr. Liv- 
ingston was thirty-seven years of age when selected as Mayor of 
New York. 

In those days to be elected to the mayoralty was considered a 
great honor. But in these degenerate days it is considered every- 
thing else than an honor, as the office has since been filled, of 
course, by many good men and also by many men whose honor 
was not bright, and whose records are far from creditable to the 
city of New York. Edward Livingston laid the corner stone of 
the present City Hall in 1803, which was about the outskirts of 
the city limits. Mr. Livingston then resided at No. 1 Broadway, 
overlooking the Battery, which was then the fashionable neigh- 
borhood. In the vicinity lived the Goelet's, Van Home's, Good- 
hue's, Livingston's, Clarkson's, Cam^jbell's, Beekman's, Clinton's, 
Cruger's, DePeyster's, Morris's, Van Cortlandt's, Van Rensselaer's, 
Schuyler's, &c., and most of the old merchants of the city. 

Mr. Hunt, in his Life of Edward Livingston, gives the following 
anecdote of Mayor Livingston : "The late Honorable Charles J. 
Ingersoll, during the last month of his life, gave me from his own 
memory after a lapse of sixty years this anecdote : On a visit at 
New York, during the period referred to, he escorted the cele 
brated Theodosia Burr to see a frigate then lying in the harbor 
upon the invitation and in the company of the Mayor. On the 
way the latter, in the liveliest manner, exclaimed to the young 
lady, "Now, Theodosia, you must bring none of your sparks on 
board. They have a magazine there and we should all be blown 
up." Another anecdote is the following : "One of his nieces, Mrs. 

L , of Rhinebeck, has lately told me what she remembers 

well ; that during the same period, when she was about sixteen 
years of age, and spending a winter with her'uncle she once said 
in his'i^resence, while talking of the play which she had seen the 
evening before, 'Oh, I wish I could go to the theatre every night.' 
'Well, my dear,' said the Mayor, 'you shall, you shall,' and he 
actually went with her to see every representation there on each 



166 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

alternate night for two or three weeks, until she voluntarily 
begged that the pleasure might be intermitted." 

Edward Livingston always abounded with wit and humor and 
was ready for a good laugh at all times. In 1803, from Jvly to 
October, New York was visited by that scoiu'ge, the yellow fever. 
During these trying days the Mayor remained like a faithful senti- 
nel at the post of duty, doing his utmost to prevent the spread of 
that fearful pestilence and to relieve the necessities of the sick 
poor of the city. But he was at last taken down with the disease 
himself, and but for his vigorous constitution, with the kind nurs- 
ing and attention of his numerous friends, would probably have 
fallen a victim to the destroyer. His son, Charles Edward, had 
died the year previous, in November 1802, at the age of twelve 
years ; he had ahvays been in feeble health. 

Mr. Livingston having more to occupy his time after his 
recovery than he possibly could attend to himself, hired a clerk, 
who was a Frenchman, and having so much to do in various parts 
of the city, on account of the sickness, left most of the office duties 
in the hands of this man, and neglected to look over his books as 
he should undoubtedly have done. This clerk appropriated large 
sums of the public money for his own use in a dishonorable course 
of living, and involved Mr. Livingston in large amounts due the 
public. As soon as Mr. Livingston discovered how matters stood 
he gave bonds on his own property to cover the amount to the 
sum of $100,000 ; the amount short wms afterwards discovered to 
be $43,666. Mr. Livingston also resigned both the offices he held. 
He received the following letter from Governor Clinton : 

"Tl* Hon. Edimrd Livmgston, Esq., Mayor of the City of N'e^o 
York : 

"Dear Sir : — I have the honor of receiving your letter of the 
19th inst. I sincerely regret, as avcII from considerations of a 
personal, as of a public nature, the cause which has induced you 
to offer a resignation of the highly important office you hold, and 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 167 

which you are so eminently qualified to fill. My absence from 
home has prevented me from thanking you at an earlier day for 
your obliging favor of the 19th inst. 

"I am with great esteem and respect, 

"GEORGE CLINTON." 

He also received a parting address from the Common Council 
of New York, which ends as follows : "Be assured, sir, that our 
attachment to your person, and gratitude for your services, will 
endure with the recollection of your virtues, and that you bear 
with you our lasting regret and esteem, and our prayers for your 
prosperity and happiness." Signed by a Committee of the Board. 

About this time Louisiana had been ceded to the United States 
by Napoleon, the First Consul of France, which negotiation had been 
successfully accomplished by the skill of Chancellor Livingston, 
then our Minister to France. Edward Livingston now determin 
ed to go to Louisiana and establish himself as a member of the bar 
in New Orleans, as a new field of labor was presented there. 
Leaving his children under the care of his brother, John R. Liv- 
ingston, who had married the sister of his wife, Eliza McEvers, tie 
left New York in December, 1803, with but $100 in gold and a 
letter of credit for $1,000 more, to seek fortune in this new country 
now united to the States. 



168 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

EDAVAKD LIVINGSTON IN NEW ORLEANS. 

He arrived at New Orleans, after being over six weeks on the 
passage, February 7, 1804. Its population at that time was only 
8056, mostly Frenchmen, Spaniards, and Creoles. But he soon 
received as much employment as he could attend to, for in the 
May Court he had twenty-nine cases to appear in as counsel. He 
wrote as follows to his sister, Mrs. Garrettson, May 27th, 

"My profession and other circumstances have given me a very 
extensive acquaintance in the province, and the impressions I have 
received are very favorable to the character of the inhabitants. 
They are in general, hospitable, honest, and polite, without much 
education, but with excellent natural abilities, and in short, people 
with whom a man who had nothing to regret might pass his life 
as happily as can be expected in any part of this uncertain Avorld. 
It now seems decided that I must be separated from all the friends 
of my early life for an uncertain length of time, from some of them 
probably forever. This is an idea I did not wish to entertain, but 
circumstances have forced me to contemplate it until I have become 
enabled to regard it, if not Avith composure and tranquility, at least 
with the resignation arising from necessity. The labors of a great 
portion, if not the whole of my life, are now pledged to others, for 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 169 

I must fear that the losses on selling real estate will leave a large 
deficiency in the fund appropriated for my debts. I must make 
this up, and as I have a better prospect of effecting it here than at 
New York, I am in justice bound to remain. The separation from 
my children is the hardest trial, but I cannot, Avithout the greatest 
injustice to Julia, take her from the truly maternal protector she 
has foiind, and I must try the effects of the summer climate before 
I will indulge myself with the society of my little Lewis, Avhose 
education I can myself direct," 

This little boy went with his aunt and her husband, General 
Armstrong, to Paris, as General Armstrong had been appointed 
Minister there. Edward Livingston possessing a knowledge of 
French, Spanish and German, enabled him to get through with 
many cases that other members of the bar, not knowing the above 
languages, would be unable to accomplish. He belonged to a fra- 
ternity of Free Masons, and was President of the Ncav Orleans 
Lodge, He instituted the shortest code of procedure in the 
mysteries of the law known in those days. On the 3d day of 
June, 1805, Edward Livingston entered for the second time into 
the marriage state. 

Mrs. Ellet, in the "Queens of American Society," thus describes 
the lady he married : "Edward Livingston married in June, 1805, 
the young widow of a Jamaica Agent, Louise Moreau de Lassy, 
born Davera de Castera, (her maiden name.) Her beauty was 
described as extraordinary, and to wondrous graces of person, she 
added a brilliant intellect. In 1834, when Edward Livingston, 
who had been Secretary of State, accepted the appointment of 
Minister to France, he was accompanied by Mrs. Livingston and 
his daughter. Mrs. Livingston was born in one of the West 
India Islands ; her family, driven from home by the horrors of 
revolution, came to New Orleans ; her brother was Minister from 
the United States to the Hague." 

She was possessed of rare intellectual attainments as well as 
personal attractions, her manners were gentle and refined, and she 



170 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

was brilliant in conversation, for her Avell stored mind and exten- 
sive observation fitted her to shine among the cultivated, ller 
daughter, Cora, inherited her mental qualities and her loveliness. 
She was in Washington with her parents when it was menaced 
by the British troops in 1814. Amid the hurly-burly, says Parton 
in his Life of Jackson, "The grim and steadfast warrior found time 
to caress and love the little girl who sat on his lap and played 
around his high splashed boots at headquarters, Avhile he was 
busy. For her sake he retained one of his horses from the public 
service. When Edward Livingston did not return to Ncav 
Orleans, Major Mitchell, the English officer in rank among the 
prisoners, was held as a hostage for the safety of the Americans in 
the British fleet. One day General Jackson calling on Mrs. Liv- 
ingston found her in great anxiety about her husband. Cora, the 
little girl, Avhimpered, "When are you going to bring me back my 
father. General ? The British will kill him." The mighty man of 
war stooped and patting the little one on the head, said, "Don't 
cry, my child, if the British touch so much as a hair of your father's 
head I'll hang Mitchell." 

"Miss Livingston was famous as the belle of Washington, in the 
time of General Jackson's administration. She was married to 
Thomas P. Barton, who went as Secretary of Legation on the 
mission to France. The party traveled through Switzerland and 
Germany. At Heidelburgh Professor Mittermaier, the voluminous 
and enlightened advocate of jurisprudential reforms, (called the 
German Brougham,) received the card of Mr. Livingston, with 
whom he had corresponded. He came to the hotel, and on seeing 
him rushed into his arms, clasped and kissed him, to the surprise 
and amusement of the ladies. When Mr. Livingston returned 
home Mr. Barton was left as Charge des Affaires. He came to the 
United States in 1836, bringing water for the fire between Jackson 
and Louis Philippe. Mrs. Barton continued to reside at Mont- 
gomery Place, after her mother's death in 18G0. Mr. Livingston's 
rooms were kept in the same state as when occupied by liiju, ShQ 
has for many years resided in New York (in winter.)" 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 171 

"A lady thus described an evening scene at the Executive Man- 
sion in the early part of Jackson's administration : 'The large 
parlor was scantily furnished ; there was light from the chandelier 
and a blazing fire in the grate, four or five ladies sewing round it, 
Mrs. Donelson, Mrs. Andrew Jackson, Mrs. Edward Livingston, 
&c. Five or six children were playing about, regardless of docu- 
ments or work-baskets. At the farther end of the room sat the 
President, in his arm-chair, wearing a long loose coat and smoking 
a long reed pipe, with bowl of red clay — combining the dignity of 
the patriarch, monarch and Indian chief Just behind was Ed- 
ward Livingston, the Secretary of State, reading him a dispatch 
from the French Minister for Foreign AlKiirs. The ladies glance 
admiringly now and then at the President, who listens, waving 
his pipe towards the children, when they become too boisterous.." 

But we must return to where we left off. Mrs. Livingston, be- 
fore her marriage, with her mother and brother, fled from St. Do- 
mingo after the revolution on that Island, in which her father, two 
brothers and her grandmother were killed. She, herself a widow 
at the early age of seventeen, her infant sister, and her brother 
Auguste, narrowly escaped massacre, but arrived in safety in the 
United States by different vessels and afterwards all met together 
in New Orleans. 

Edward Livingston had but one child by this marriage, the 
daughter above mentioned. Soon after his marriage he became 
involved in a controversy with the government of the United 
States for some low lands he possessed along the Mis8issij)pi river ; 
it Avas called "The Batture Controversy," but it would take more 
space than my limits will afford to give the full account ojTit, and 
not being of a very interesting nature to any but a lawyer, I will 
here give but a short letter from Chief Justice, afterwards Chan- 
cellor James Kent, addressed to Edward Livingston at New 
Orleans on this subject. 

"ALBA^% May 13, 1814. 

"Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 9th ult, was just now received, 



172 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOK. 

and I am sentible of the honor done me by the vahie which you 
are pleased to attach to my legal opinions. On all questions de- 
l^ending on the civil law my researches are very imperfect, and I 
know you are infinitely my superior, and if I had any doubt of 
your title to the Battm'e after reading Jefferson's pamphlet, your 
reply had completely removed it. I purchased the reply as soon 
as I heard it was to be procured, and before the one you was so 
kind as to intend for me came to hand, and a more conclusive 
argument I never read. Permit me to assure you that I have 
sympathized with you throughout the whole of the controversy, as 
I took a very early impression that you was cruelly and shameful- 
ly persecuted, and that too by the Executive authority of the 
United States. I am more and more confirmed in this ojiinion, 
and Mr. Jefferson has richly merited all the reproach and indigna- 
tion which your pamphlet conveys. I never doubted in the least 
(it would have been impossible,) that his interference, summarily 
under the act of Congress, was unauthorized ; but as I read at 
once his book on the title and did not examine his authorities, but 
assumed them to have been foirly cited, I was left in jierplexity 
and doubt, and had not leisure to sit doM'n to a re-examination of 
the subject ; when yoiu- reply came I read it eagerly and studied 
• it thoroughly, with a re-examination of Jefferson's as I went 
along, and I should now be as willing to subscribe my name to 
the validity of your title, and to the atrocious injustice you have 
received, as to my opinion contained in Johnson's Reports. This 
last pamphlet is the ablest work with which you have hitherto 
obliged the public, and it gives you new and increasing claims to 
their consideration. I always recollect with pleasure and tender- 
ness the friendship of former days, and I cannot omit any oppor- 
tunity to assure you of my constant esteem and regard. 

"I am, dear sir, yours sincerely, 

"JA3IES KENT." 

Mr. Livingston was out for a walk one day and returning home 
completely drenched, lii§ -jyife in surprise said to him, "You look 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 173 

as if you had been in the river." "And so I have," he replied. 
"As I was walking on the Levee I amused myself watching the 
progress of a little boat crossing the river with. a solitary man 
rowing it. Suddenly, from some imprudent motion, the boat 
]titched on one side and the man fell into the water. Evidently 
he could not swim. I threw off my coat, jumped in, got hold of 
the man just as he appeared to be sinking, and brought him to the 
1)oat which was righted. He seized the side and clambering in 
rowed off without looking at me, I suppose because I had not been 
properly introduced to him, and I was left to find the shore as best 
I could, which, loaded as I was with clothes and boots, was not so 
easy a matter." 

His daughter Julia was grown up, but so delicate that she went 
into a decline, and her father hearing of her illness sailed for New 
York, but she was dead and buried before he arrived there. This 
was a terrible shock to him. His son Lewis was still in Paris 
and corresponded with his father. 

Soon after Edward Livingston's return to New Orleans, war 
broke out between the United States and Great Britain, and in 
the fall of 1814 the citizens of New Orleans feared an invasion by 
the British. On the 15th of September, 1814, a meeting of the 
citizens of New Orleans took place, at which meeting Edward 
Livingston was President. Pie addressed the meeting and urged 
the inhabitants to make immediate preparations to repeal the con- 
templated invasion. They appointed a Committee of Safety, com- 
posed of the most distinguished citizens of New Orleans, with Liv- 
ingston as Chairman, who sent forth a stirring address to the 
people. Governor Claiborne, who, like Livingston, believed the 
statements of Lafitte, sent copies of the British papers to General 
Jackson, then at Mobile. The patriotic fire in the bosom of that 
hero glowed with tenfold intensity when this scheme of invasion 
was laid before him. He issued a stirring appeal to the inhabit- 
ants of Louisiana ; and on the same day he addressed a proclama- 
tion to the free people of color in that State, inviting them to unite 



174 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

under the banner of their country for tlie purpose of contributinc: 
to its defense. 

On the 21st inst. the news was received at New Orleans of 
Major Lawrence's gallant defence of Fort Bowyer, at Mobile Point, 
where he gained a most brilliant victory. In May, 1814, Jackson 
received the appointment of Major-Gencral in the Army of the 
United States. Edward Livingston, at the head of a committee, 
was the first to welcome him, and furnished him with plans and 
other important matters relating to the defense of the city. The 
General dined with him, and from that day they became insepar- 
able friends. His son Lewis had been sent for to return home 
from Paris, and alter his arrival was a great comfort and assistance 
to his father. Lewis wrote as follows to his aunt, Mrs. Mont- 
gomery, from New Orleans, dated IGth of December 1814 : 

"General Jackson anived here about a fortnight since, and I have 
l)een all this time with him, visiting the different posts. He has 
promised to receive me into his staff. To-morrow I am to have 
my appointnient as Engineer, with the rajik of Captain, or Lieu- 
tenant, I know not which. Great bustle biit little alarm now pre- 
vail in town. We daily expect the enemy to make an attack upon 
this place. We are ready, however, to receive them. All the 
Militia are now doing duty, and will leave town in a few days, 
and all do it with pleasure ; they vie with each other in showing 
their zeal. There now reigns but one party ; all are determined 
to oppose the enemy, and even my father, seized with a patriotic 
or military ardor, has offered himself and has been received as 
volunteer aid to General Jackson. The Martial law was published 
this morning, and is now in execution. But I am writing a news- 
paper, not a letter." 

Lewis Livingston received the place of Assistant Engineer, with 
the rank of Captain. On the 18th of December General Jackson 
reviewed the troops, and Edward Livingston delivered an address 
to them. Fighting soon after commenced, and General Jackson 
used cotton bales as breastworks. He took a large number of 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 175 

bales of a Mr. Nolte, who complained to Mr. Livingston of his 
loss, and in his work called "Nolte's Fifty Years in Both Hemis- 
pheres," he describes Mr. Livingston's reply, which was, "Well, 
Mr. Nolte, if this is your cotton, you at least will not think it any 
hardship to defend it." On the 8th of January the decisive battle 
was fought and won, and the following letter from Captain Lewis 
Livingston to Mrs. General Montgomery thus describes the trium- 
phal entrance of General Jackson and his army into the city after 
the victory : "Was there ever a finer sight, or a more aifecting 
one than that which presented itself to om- view on the 23d ultimo, 
when the main body of the army, mostly composed of fathers of 
lamilies, returned, with their brave and modest leader, General 
Jackson, at their head, amidst the acclamations of an immense 
multitude of old men, Avomen and children, (the only ones who did 
not share in the dangers of the field,) who all hailed him as the 
saviour of their country and themselves. On the 24th the General 
accompanied by all his staff, proceeded to the Cathedral, where a 
grand Te Demn was to be sung. On the public square facing the 
building, was erected a triumphal arch. On both sides of this a 
few steps back, were stationed our best looking troops, and in front 
of these, nearest to the arch, were to be seen eighteen young 
ladies, dressed in the same apparel, and each representing one of 
the States. In the middle of the arch there were two little child- 
ren, standing on two thrones, erected on both sides, between the 
columns of the arch. Each held a crown in her hand. General 
Jackson easily found out who they were for. His modesty suffer 
ed, but he was obliged to submit. He passed through the arch 
and was crowned amidst the huzzas of the Americans and accla- 
mations of the French, who did not dare to repeat "Vive Jackson ! 
Vive Notre General." 

In the year 1815, Edward Livingston's son, Lewis, left New Or- 
leans for the North, purposing to obtain the best teachers in New 
York for the finishing of his education. In the summer of 1818 
Governor Clinton, of Ne^y York, commissioned Lewis Livingston 



176 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

to proceed to Canada and to remove to New York the remains of 
General Montgomery, who fell in front of Quebec. 

About February loth, 1819, the Batture litigation between Ed- 
Avard Livingston and the United States Government before refer- 
red to, had been decided adversely to Mr. Livingston, and his son 
Lewis, -writing to his aunt, Mrs. Montgomery, thus alludes to it: 
"My fother in the evening of his days finds himself robbed of his 
property." 

But Mr. Livingston bore up under this as well as the many 
trials of his life with patience and resignation. In 1820 he ac- 
cepted a seat in the lower house of the Louisiana Legislature, and 
in the Avinter of 1821, his son Lewis's health failing and becoming 
very feeble, his physicians advised him to travel in Europe. He 
concluded to go, and accordingly sailed in April of that year. He 
remained in France without any improvement to his health until 
November, when he took passage for New Orleans, but died on 
the passage on the 25tli of December, and was buried by strangers 
at sea ; sad indeed, and another trial for his poor father. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 177 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE LIVINGSTON CODE, ELECTION TO CONGRESS, AND SECKETARY OF 

STATE. 

Edward Livingston in the year 1821 was elected by the General 
Assembly of Louisiana to revise the Laws, particularly the criminal 
laws, of the State. He formed what was afterAvards called 
the Livingston Code, which obtained a great reputation. 
The following Act, framed and m-ged by him, for the aboli 
tion of capital punishment, was not passed in the State. As a 
substitute to punishment by death he offered that the culprit 
be imprisoned in a cell painted black, and that "his food is bread 
of the coarsest kind ; his drink is water mingled with his tears ; 
he is dead to the world. This cell is his grave ; his existence is 
prolonged that he may remember his crime and repent it, and 
that the continuance of his punishment may deter others from the 
indulgence of hatred, avarice, sensuality and the passions which 
lead to the crime he has committed. When the Almighty in his 
due time shall exercise towards him that dispensation which he 
himself arrogantly and wickedly usurped towards another, his 
body is to be dissected and his soul will abide that judgment 
which divine justice shall decree." 

The name of Edward Livingston had become celebrated through- 
out the world, Victor Hugo wrote to him, "You will be nuni- 
23 



178 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

bered among the men of this age who have deserved most and 
best of mankind." He was imanimously elected to Congress, 
without opposition, in July, 1822, and afterwards again twice 
elected, therefore served six sessions as Representative from 
Louisiana. In Congress at this time were Clay, Randolph, Web- 
ster, Van Buren, and Benton. In 1828 he was elected as Senator 
of the United States, and became a Senator on the same day that 
his friend, General Jackson, became President of the United 
States. He discharged the duties of Senator until March, 1831, 
during his term delivering many speeches of great power. 

In the year 1828 his eldest sister, Janet, widow of General 
Montgomery, died, and leaving no children, left her splendid farm 
and country seat of Montgomery Place to him, as well as the 
greater part of her fortune. Mr. Livingston left Washington and 
removed there in March, 1831, but had not enjoyed the sweetness 
of quiet life among the beauties of the flowers and the charms of 
this delightful retreat over a month, when he received a letter 
from Mr. Van Buren, dated Washington, April 9th, 1831, request- 
ing him to come immediately to Washington. Arriving at Wash- 
ington, he wrote the following letter to his wife, a few extracts 
from which I give here : 

"Washington, Saturday night." 
"Guess until you are tired, my dear Louise, and you will not hit 
on the cause of my summons to this place. An offer is made to 
me of a place that would be the object of the highest ambition to 
every politician ; it is pressed upon me with all the warmth of 
friendship, and eveiy aj^peal to my love of country. The selection 
I tliink, except the first place, a good one — E. L., Seo'y of State ; 
II. L. White, War ; McLane, Treasury ; Woodbury, Navy." 

He returned home and at last concluded to accept, and arrived 
at Washington on May 24th, and entered upon his new oflice of 
Secretary of State. The following letter he wrote to his Avife in 
June : "Here I am in the second place in the United States, some 
say the first, in the place filled by Jefferson, Madison, and Mom'oe, 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 179 

and by liiin who filled it before any of them, my brother (Chan- 
cellor Livingston, Secretary of Foreign AfPairs fi'om 1781 to 1783.) 
In the place gained by Clay, at so great a sacrifice, in the Ycry 
easy chair of Adams, in the oftice which every politician looks to 
as the last step but one in the ladder of his ambition ; in the very 
cell where the great magician, they say, brewed his spells. Here I 
am without an efifort, uncontrolled by any engagements, unfettered 
by any promise to party or to man ! Here I am, and here I have 
been for a month. I now know what it is ; am I happier than I 
was ? The question is not easily answered ; had the bait never 
been thro-wn in my way ; had I been sufiered to finish the gi-aft I 
had begun when your letter summoned me from the country ; had 
I been permitted to stay and watch its growth until the fall ; to 
wander all the summer through the walks you had planned ; to 
see my daughter improving in health and spirits ; now and then 
to plan a pic-nic, or plague myself in the vain attempt to catch a 
trout ; to have exclaimed on hearing of what happened here, among 
them be it ; and taken the opinions of my two heads of depart- 
ments — Shoemaker on the crop of Wheat, and Owen on the 
Celery bed — could I have passed my summer thus, and taken my 
independent seat in the Senate in the winter, I could then have ans 
wered the question readily. But the temptation was thrown in 
my way ; the prize for which so many were contending was ofiered 
to me ; the acceptance of it was urged upon me ; if I had rejected 
it I think it would have been a source of regret that would have 
made me undervalue the real enjoyments for which I refused it — 
such is human natm'e. But as yet I cannot form a proper judg- 
ment of tlie value of my place. My wife and daughter have not 
been with me^ and if the mental exercise and laborious attention 
it requires have enabled me to bear the solitude I am in, they will 
turn to positive enjoyment when you are with me, for I now see 
that I can master the difiiculties of the office, and although they 
will be increased during the session, if my health be preserved I 
shall not fear them. All this we have thought and said a hundred 
times. Why I repeat it I cannot tell, except that running in my 



ISO dLERMONf , Or LIVINGSTON RfANOtt. 

mind it flowed from my pen, as all my other thouglits do ^vlien 1 
^^Tite to you." 

Towai'ds the latter part of the year 1832, General Jackson took 
liis determined stand against the nullifiers of South Carolina, and 
being formed of different material from our late President, James 
Buchanan, he soon nipped that rebellion in the bud. The cele- 
brated proclamation of December 10, 1832, is AVTitten entirely in 
Edward Livingston's handwriting. General Jackson wrote the 
folloAving letter to him : 

"Dear Sir : — I submit the conclusion of the proclamation, for 
your amendment and revision. Let it receive your best flight of 
eloquence to strike to the heart and speak to the feelings of my 
deluded countrymen of South Carolina. The Union must be pre- 
served without blood, if this be possible ; but it must be preserved 
at all hazards and at any price. 

"Yours with liigh regard, 

"ANDREW JACKSON." 
"E. Livingston, Esq., Dec. 4, 1832, 11 P. M." 

The following was the jiroclamation decided upon at first. This 
was in Edward Livingston's hand-writing : 

"My countrymen, the whole of the momentous case is before 
you. On your concord, on your undivided support depends the 
decision of the great question it involves. Public opinion every- 
Avhere is powerful ; here it is omnipotent. If you should decide, 
fotally, in my opinion, decide, that a State may annul an act of 
Congress, or secede from the Union, if even any important part of 
the nation should concur in the Carolina doctrines on this subject, 
it cannot change my conviction of duty or prevent my attempts to 
execute it, though it may render tliose attempts inefiicient. But if, 
as I trust, only one spirit shall })ervade the nation, and that spirit 
shall inspire a cry from Maine to Louisiana that the Union must 
1)0 preserved, the voice will be obeyed, the Union will be preserv- 
ed ! We sliall still be a nation respected tlie more for the decis- 



CLERMON'T, or LIVINdSTON MANOR. ISl 

ion we shall have shown in a time of no common danger. New 
confidence will be inspired in republican institutions, and we may- 
yet hope to hand them down to our children, unimpaired, preserv 
ed, invigorated by our prudence, our wisdom and courage in their 
defence. Unanimity and a strong unequivocal expression of it 
may avert the evils that threaten us. Madness could only inspire 
our brethren to persevere in principles Avhich a universal reproba- 
tion of the Union should condemn as unsound, and a contest for 
the support of which they must perceive to be utterly hopeless." 
For some reason the above was not used. The following is the 
latter part of General Jackson's proclamation, which was issued and 
is noted for its great beauty of style and rhetoric, which has indue 
ed me to insert it here : 

"Fellow-Citizens of My Native State : — Let mc not only ad- 
monish you, as the first Magistrate of our common country, not to 
incur the penalty of its laws, but use the influence that a fatl-.cr 
would over his children whom he saw rushing to certain ruin. In 
that paternal language, with that paternal feeling, let me tell you, 
my countrymen, that you are deluded by men who are either de- 
ceived themselves or wish to deceive you. Mark under what pre 
tences you have been led into the brink of insuiTection and treason 
on which you stand. First, a diminution of the value of your 
staple commodity, lowered by our production in other quarters, 
and the consequent dimiuution in the value of your lands Were the 
sole effect of the tariff laws. The effect of those laws was con- 
fessedly injurious, but the evil was greatly exaggerated by the 
unfounded theory you were taught to believe that its burdens were 
in proportion to your exports, not to your consumption of import- 
ed articles. Your pride was roused by the assertion tliat a submis- 
sion to those laws was a state of vassalage, and that resistance to 
them was equal in patriotic merit to the opposition our fathers 
offered to the oppressive laws of Great Britain. You Were told 
that this opposition might be peaceably, might be constitutionally 
made, that you might enjoy all the advantages of the Union and 



182 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

boar none of its burdens. Eloquent appeals to your passions, to 
your state pride, to your native courage, to your sense of real 
injury, were used to prepare you for the period when the mask 
which concealed the hideous features of disunion should be taken 
off. It fell, and you were made to look with complacency on 
objects which not long since you Avould have regarded with horror. 
Look back to the arts which have brought you to this state ; look 
forward to the consequences to which it must inevitably lead ; look 
back to what Avas first told you as an inducement to enter into this 
dangerous course. 

"The great political truth was repeated to you that you had the 
revolutionary right of resisting all laws that were palpably uncon- 
stitutional and intolerably opj)ressive ; it was added that the right 
to nullify a law rested on the same principle, but that it was a 
l)eaceable remedy. This character which ■\vas given to it made you 
receive with too much confidence the assertions that were made of 
the unconstitutionality of the law and its oppressive effects. 
Mark, my fellow citizens, that by the admission of your leaders 
the unconstitutionality must be palpable or it will not justify either 
resistance or nullification. What is the meaning of the word 
palpable in the sense in which it is here used ? That which is ap- 
parent to every onc,^that which no man of ordinary intellect Avill 
fail to perceive. Is the unconstitutionality of these laAVs of that 
description ? Let those among your leaders who once aj^proved 
and advocated the principles of productive duties answer the ques- 
tion ; and let them choose whether they will be considered as in 
capable, then, of perceiving that which must have been apparent to 
every man of common understanding, or as im2>osing upon your 
confidence and endeavoring to niislead you now. In either case 
they are unsafe guides in the perilous path they urge you to tread. 
Ponder Well on this circumstance and you will know how to 
appreciate the exaggerated language they address to you. They 
are not champions of liberty emulating the fame of our revolution- 
ary fathers 1 Nor are you an oppressed people, contending, as they 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 183 

repeat to you, against worse than colonial vassalage. You are free 
members of a flourishing and happy Union. There is no settled 
design to oppress you. You have indeed felt the unequal opera- 
tion of laws which may have been unwisely, not unconstitutionally 
passed, but that inequality must necessarily be removed. 

"At the very moment when you were madly urged on to the 
unfortunate course you have begun, a change in public opinion had 
commenced. The nearly approaching payment of the public debt, 
and the consequent necessity of a diminution of duties had already 
produced a considerable reduction, and that, too, on some articles 
of general consumption in your State. Tlie importance of this 
change was underrated, and you were authoritatively told that no 
farther alleviation of your burdens was to be expected, at the very 
time when the condition of the country imperiously demanded 
such a modification of the duties as should reduce them to a just 
and equitable scale. But as if apprehensive of the effect of this 
change in allaying your discontents, you were precipitated into the 
fearful state in which you now find yourselves. I have urged you 
to look back to the means that were used to hurry you on to the 
})Osition you have now assumed, and forward to the consequences 
it will produce. Something more is necessary. Contemplate the 
condition of the country of Avhich you still form an important 
part. Consider its government uniting in one band of common 
interest and general protection so many different States ; giving 
to all their inhabitants the proud title of American citizens, pro- 
tecting their commerce, securing their literature and their arts, 
facilitating their inter-communication, defending their frontiers, 
and making their name respected in the remotest parts of the 
earth. Consider the extent of this territory! its increasing and 
happy population, its advance in arts, which render life agreeable, 
and the sciences which elevate the mind. See education spreading 
the lights of religion, morality and general information into every 
cottage in this wide extent of our Territories and States. Beliold 
it as the asylum where the wretched and the oppressed find a 



184 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

refuge and support. Look on tliis })icture of happiness and honor 
and say : 

"We too are citizens of America. Carolina is one of these 
proud States ; her arms have defended, her blood has cemented 
this happy Union,* and then add if you can, without horror and 
remorse, this happy Union ^\'e Avill dissolve ; this picture of peace 
and prosperity we will deface ; this free intercourse we will inter- 
rupt ; these fertile fields we will deluge with blood ; the protection 
of that glorious flag we renounce ; the very name of Americans we 
discard ! And for what, mistaken men, for what do you throw 
away these inestimable blessings ? For what Avould you ex_ 
change your share in the advantages and honor of the Union ? 
For the dream of separate independence ; a dream interrupted by 
bloody conflicts Avith your neighbors, and a vile dependence on a 
foreign power. If your leaders could succeed in establishing 
a separation, what Avould be your situation '? Are you united at 
home ? Are you free from the apprehension of civil discord, with 
all its fearful consequences ? Do our neighboring Republics, every 
day sufiering some new revolution, or contending Avith some ncAV 
insurrection, do they excite your euA'y "? But the dictates of a 
high duty oblige me solemnly to announce that you cannot suc- 
ceed. The laAvs of the United States must be executed. I have 
no discretionary poAver on the subject. My duty is emphatically 
pronounced in the Constitution. Those Avho told you that you 
might peaceably prevent their execution deceived you ; they could 
not have been deceived themselves. They kncAV that a forcible 
opposition could alone present the execution of the laAvs, and they 
knoAV that such opposition must be re^^elled. Tlieir object is dis- 
union ; but be not deceived by names. Disunion by armed force 
is treason. Are you really ready to incur its guilt ? If you are, 
on the heads of the instigators of the act be the dreadful conse- 
quences ; on their heads be tlie dishonor, but on yours may fall 
the punishment. 

*15at alas ! slio has twice attempted to overthrow it. Once since Jackson's day, 1861 
to 18C5, and the first to disgrace and fire on the old Hag. She will repent, and lias already 
done so. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 185 

"Ou your unhappy State Avill inevitably fall all the evils of the 
conflict you force upon the government of your country. It can- 
not accede to the mad project of disunion, of which you would be 
the first victims. Its first Magistrate cannot, if he would, avoid 
the pei-formance of his duty. The consequence must be fearful for 
you — distressing to your fellow-citizens here, and to the friends of 
good government throughout the world. Its enemies have beheld 
our prosperity with a vexation they could not conceal ; it was a 
standing refutation of their slavish doctrines, and they will point 
to our discord with the triumph of malignant joy. It is yet in 
your iDower to disappoint them ; there is yet time to show that the 
descendants of the Pinckney's, the Sumter's, the Rutledge's, and 
of the thousand other names which adorn the pages of your Revo- 
lutionary history, Avill not abandon that Union to support which, so 
many of them fought, and bled, and died. I adjure you, as you 
honor their memory, as you love the cause of freedorii, to Avhich 
they dedicated their lives, as you prize the peace of the country, 
the lives of its best citizens, and your own fair fame, to retrace 
your steps ; snatch from the archives of your State the disorgan- 
izing edict of its Convention ; bid its members to re-assemble and 
promulgate the decided expressions of your will to remain in the 
path which alone can conduct you to safety, prosperity, and honor ; 
tell them that, compared to disunion, all other evils are light, be- 
cause that brings with it an accumulation of all ; declare that you 
will never take the field unless the Star Spangled Banner of your 
country shall float over you ; that you will not be stigmatized 
when dead, and dishonored and scorned while you live, as the 
authors of the first attack on the Constitution of your country. 
Its destroyers you cannot be ; you may disturb its peace ; you may 
interrupt the course of its prosperity, you may cloud its reputation 
for stability, but its tranquility will be restored, its prosperity will 
return, and the stain upon its national character will be trans- 
ferred, and remain an eternal blot on the memory of those who 
caused the disorder, 



24 



186 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

"FclloAV'-Citizcns of tlie United States, the tlireat of unhallowed 
disunion, the names of those once respected by whom it is uttered, 
the array of military force to support it, denote the approach of a 
crisis in our affairs, on which the continuance of our unexampled 
prosperity, our political existence, and perhaps that of all free gov- 
ernments, may depend. The conjuncture demanded a free, a full 
and explicit enunciation not only of my intentions, hut of my prin- 
ciples of action, and as the claim Avas asserted of a right by a 
State to annul the laws of the Union, and even to secede from it at 
pleasure, a frank exposition of my opinions in relation to the ori- 
gin and form of our government, and the construction I give to 
the instnmient by which it Avas created, seemed proper. Having the 
fullest confidence in the justness and constitutional opinion of my 
duties, which has been expressed, I rely with equal confidence on 
your undivided support in my determination to execute the laAvs, 
to preserve the Union by all constitutional means, to arrest if pos- 
sible, by moderate but firm measures, the necessity of a recourse 
to force, and if it be the will of Heaven that the recurrence of its 
primeval curse on man for the shedding of a brother's blood, should 
fall upon our land, that it be not called down by any offensive act 
on the part of the United States. Fellow-citizens, the momentous 
case is before jou. On your undivided support of your govern- 
ment depends the decision of the great question it involves, 
whether yom* sacred Union will be preserved, and the blessings it 
secures to us as a people, shall be perpetuated. No one can doubt 
that the unanimity with which that decision Avill be expressed will 
be such as to inspire new confidence in Rei^ublican institutions, 
and that the prudence, the wisdom, and the courage which it will 
bring to their defence, will transmit them unimpaired and invigor- 
ated to our children. May the Great Ruler of nations grant that 
the signal blessings with which he has favored ours, may not, by 
the madness of party or personal ambition, be disregarded ami lost ; 
and may his wise Providence bring those who have produced this 
crisis to see their folly before they feel the misery of civil strife, 
and inspire a returning veneration for that Union, Avhich, if Ave 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 187 

may dare to penetrate his designs, he has chosen as tlie only 
means of attaining the high destinies to which we may reasonal^ly 
aspire." 

The following extracts are from a letter written to Mrs. Free- 
born Garretson, by her brother, Edward Livingston, when he was 
Secretary of State : 

■ "New York, October 16, 1832. 

"I was veiy much grieved that I could not stay and dine with 
you on Sunday, the more so as it was your birth-day, and that my 
public duties may render it more doubtful than even the common 
course of human affairs would do, that we should meet again on a 
similar occasion. Of our large family but four now remain ; and 
in a few years these must give place to a new generation, and they 
in turn to another ; so without the hope of meeting in another and 
a better world, we should have none of having it remembered that 
we had ever existed. This has been very wisely so ordered to 
destroy the hope of posthumous glory ; but it cannot be designed 
to damp the exertions we should make of being useful to our 
country and our fellow creatures, while Heaven indulges us with 
faculty and the means of being so. This may answer, my dear 
sister, to your enquiry, why I do not return to my farm and give 
up the cares of public life. It is because I can be useful where I 
am, and contribute more to the happiness of others than I could 
in a situation which would certainly be more suitable to my age 
and more congenial to my feelings." 

It was in April, 1833, that his only daughter, Cora, was married 
to Thomas P. Barton, of Philadelphia. Soon after this marriage 
the President selected Edward Livingston as Minister to France, 
and his son-in-law, Mr. Barton, as Secretary of the Legation. 



188 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR, 



CHAPTER XXVIL 

>nKISTER TO FRANCE, RETIREMENT TO PRIVATE LIFE, AND DEATH, 

As Cliancellor Livingston M'fis Secretary of State, and Minister 
to France, tluis likewise did his illustrious youngest brother, 
Edward Livingston, fill both those high offices with honor to him- 
self, and reflected honor on his country. On the 29th day of May, 
1833, lie resigned the office of Secretary of State, which lie had 
held since May 2ith, 1831, and the same day he received the ap- 
pointment of Envoy Extraordhiaiy and Minister Plenipotentiary to 
France. On the 14th of August he embarked with his family on 
board the United States ship Delaware, for France. He was at 
the time sixty-nine years of age, an old man to leave a comfortable 
home and enter office in a foreign land. 

He reached the port of Cherbourg on September 12th, 1833, after 
a, voyage of twenty-eight days. Everything in Paris Avas of 
course new to him. The splendid buildings, the palaces, the 
galleries of paintings, to a man ol his observation and taste, were a 
source of great delight. He met with a most pleasing reception 
from King Louis Philippe, and the members of the royal family. 
His able diplomacy saved our country from a long war with 
France, and he felt much anxiety to learn if his course liad met 
iwitli the a])probation of the President and j)olitical friends at 



GLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 189 

home, when he gladly received on the 8th of March the following 
letter from Mr. Van Buren : 

"Mr. Forsyth met me this morning at the President's with your 
last letter to de Rigny — and we went through it very deliberately. 
I could not express myself too strongly for the opinion I really 
entertain of its merits. Remember what I say to you, that here- 
after when the correspondence is published it will be selected from 
the mass as giving the clearest, the strongest and the best temper- 
ed views of the matters in controversy. The General, as well as 
Forsyth, was delighted with it." 

In the fall of 1834, Mr. and Mrs. Livingston, his daughter and 
her husband made a tour of pleasure through Switzerland and 
Germany. In one of his lettei'S to the Secretary of State, at Wash 
ington, he states the cost of living in Paris as being very expen 
sive. "I find that the four articles of house rent, coach hire, ser- 
vants, and fuel, will take about seven thousand dollars, leaving for 
all my other expenses in this expensive capital, two thousand dol- 
lars. I make this statement, not because I can have any interest 
in it, for I am not rich enough to remain here until some remedy 
could be applied to the evil, but for the honor of the country, and 
to enable it to avail itself of the services of others tlian men of 
large fortune." 

Mr. Livingston and family returned home and arrived in Ncav 
York on the 23d of June, 1835, by the frigate Constitution, 
Crowds of people and his friends met him at the wharf and fol 
lowed his carriage to his brother's house in Greenwich Street. At 
the house he made a short speech, as follows : "Fellow-citizens, 
I feel much happiness at yoiu* cordial welcome of my return, and 
beg to assure you that during my mission I have studied all that 
was due to the dignity of my country, its general interest and its 
welfare." 

He was, on concluding, greeted Avith cheers, and the next day 
received a public reception in the Governor's Room, City Hall, 



190 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

and had a public dinner given to iiini, whieli he attended. The 
following toast in his praise was given by the Mayor, Mr. Law- 
rence : "Edward Livingston, as a patriot and statesman, belongs to 
America ; as a jurist and philosopher, to the world. His exposi- 
tion of the 2oth of April embodies the sentiments of his country- 
men, and stands as a text book for American diplomatists." 

Mr. Livingston rose and responded as follows : "I had aiTanged 
some phrases which I thought might suit the occasion, but they 
are driven from my mind by the impulse which the scene around 
me most naturally produces. I find them tame, flat, powerless to 
express the feelings by which I am excited — agitated — almost 
overpowered. Gentlemen, I did not ex^ject this ; I returned with- 
out having attained final success in my mission. I returned with 
the satisfactory but humble consciousness of having done my duty ; 
and I anticipated no other pleasiu'e on my return than the greetings 
ot personal friends, and that exquisite sensation Avhich one who 
loves his country feels, when after a long absence, his foot presses 
his native shore. Such of you, gentlemen, as have been abroad 
will understand this, but all of you must join me in lamenting that 
the poverty of our language has no other word than the vague 
one of country to express the relation between it and its citizens. 
We have no derivative from the Patria of the Romans, and have 
not adopted the Faderland of our Saxon ancestors. Nothing can 
be more appropriate to express the feeling, nothing more resem- 
bles filial duty and .affection, than the obligation we owe to our 
native land, or the attachment which binds us by voluntary ties to 
the country of om* adoption. But if we have not the word in our 
language, we have the sentiment in our hearts. Properly cultiva- 
ted, it will teach us not only to support our country on occasions 
like the present, when it can ajipcal to all nations for the uniform 
moderation .and justice of its course, but with the pious sons of 
the Patriarch, to veil even the occasional excesses of our common 
parent from the eyes of the world, — not like their degener.atcj 
unnatural brother, to exaggerate and expose them to derision — to 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 191 

conceal, not to discover the nakedness of the land, to glory in its 
honor, to lament its misfortunes, to espouse its cause as our own, 
and identify ourselves with it in its prosperous or adverse fortune. 
This is patriotism ; this is true love of country ; and as it is com- 
mon to all who hear me, I may be permitted to say that it guid- 
ed me in ray conduct, cheered me during the difficulties of my 
mission, and that I looked to the consciousness of its having ani 
mated me, for my best reward. I repeat, gentlemen, that I did 
not expect the reception that I have met with. But I should be 
guilty of an absurd aifectation if I attempted to conceal the heart- 
felt pleasure it has given me. I thank you for myself, I thank 
you more for my country ; for I have not the vanity to believe 
that any merit of mine could excite the enthusiastic demon- 
strations that have been made ; and my feelings of personal gratifi- 
cation were lost in the higher enjoyment of national pride, Avhcn 
amid the shouts that greeted my arrival, the first words I could 
distinguish were those which reprobated any unworthy concession. 
Never within my recollection, in the course of a large political 
life, has public sentiment, on any question, been so strongly ex- 
pressed ; expressed as it should be — calmly, but with energy ; 
without bluster, without violence, in the language of high minded 
men, who appreciate their own character and the dignity of their 
country. In a settled determination to suffer no degrading inter- 
ference with our Legislative councils, all party feelings seem 
forgotten, and the assurance I gave to the French government on 
my departure that every attempt of this nature would be repelled 
by the undivided energies of the nation, seems nobly confirmed." 

He was afterwards entertained by another public dinner at Phil- 
adelphia. Mr. Livingston, now feeling that he had arrived at an 
age when rest was important to preserve health, retired from pub- 
lic life to his beautiful country seat of Montgomery Place, on the 
Hudson. Here he occupied his time and amused himself with 
planting trees, reading, correspondence with his numerous friends, 
also by shooting, fishing, visiting the members of his family who 



192 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

resitlecl in the vicinity, liis brother, John R. Livingston, his sister, 
Mrs. Garretson, and others. 

In the month of August he wrote to his son-in-law in France, 
who tlien was Charge d' Affaires of the United States, "I wish 
you were with us, dear Barton, in this dehghtful retirement, which 
does not lose its charms for me by the comparison I make be- 
tween its natural beauties and the highly improved gi-ounds of 
England. I feel the same interest that I formerly felt in walking 
through the rough walks in the woods, and in planning new ones, 
but I want you to help me." 

But these scenes of joy and happiness for him were short ; his 
days were numbered, for on Saturday, May 21st, 1836, he was sud- 
denly taken very ill with an attack of bilious colic, from which he 
did not recover, but died on Monday, May 23d, 1836, in the sev- 
enty-second year of his age. Mrs. Garretson, his sister, was then 
eighty-five years of age, and was his constant attendant. lie was 
buried beside his mother, in the family vault at Clermont. 

Montgomery Place is still OAvned and occupied by his daughter, 
Mrs. Barton. I have paid many a pleasant visit there and remem- 
ber well the charming manners of IMrs. Edward Livingston, who 
died in the year 1860, surviving her husband nearly a quarter of a 
century. Hunt, in his Life of Edward Livingston, relates the fol- 
lowing anecdote, in a note : "Mrs. Livingston passed her widow- 
hood of nearly a quarter of a century in complete retirement. She 
died, as she for many years had lived, a member of the JMeth- 
odist church. No circumstance was wanting to perfect the con- 
trast between the beginning and the close of her days. The 
memory of her husband, his character, his actions, and his fame, 
continued paramount in her thoughts and conversation to the last. 
The following was one of her latest reminiscences of him given to 
a friend with temporary animation at a time Avhen she Avas almost 
too feeble to converse. 'On one of our returning journeys from 
New Orleans,' she said, 'we were traveling through the interior of 
Pennsylvania by stage coach. As we were about to depart from 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 193 

one of the stations, my husband and myself occupying the back 
seat, and all the other places but one being filled, a plain man 
holding by the hand a very pretty young girl, presented himself 
by the side of the vehicle, and carefully scanned the faces of all the 
passengers. After doing so, he turned to my husband and said, 
'I Avas looking for some one to whom I might confide the charge 
of my daughter, who is obliged to travel without a protector for 
some distance. I think I must select you. You judge rightly, 
my friend, said I, you judge rightly ; he has been the protector of 
innocence all his life.' " What prettier compliment from a loving 
wife could be more deservedly given "? 



194 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



BIRTU AND MARRIAGE OP JANET, ELDEST DAUGHTER OF JUDGE 
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 



Jaiict, the eldest cliild of Judge Robert R. Livingston and 
Margaret Beekman, was born at Livingston Manor, Columbia 
County, on the 27th day of August, 1743, She received a fine ed- 
ucation at Clermont, and was mamed on the 24th day of July, 
1773, to Richard Montgomery, who was then 37 years of age, and 
Janet Livingston 30 years of age, 

Richard Montgomery was a native of Ireland and was born in 
1736, at his father's estate, Convoy House, in the North part of 
Ireland, near the town of Raphoe. Educated as a gentleman's 
son at the best college in Dublin, he, at the age of eighteen, re- 
ceived a commission in the English army. His military career 
commenced in the same field of service in America, where, in 
another war, it was destined to end. He joined in 1758 the Brit- 
ish expedition against Louisburg, and in the attack and capture of 
that place he showed such bravery that he was promoted to a lieu- 
tenancy in the British army. General Abercrombie having been 
defeated before Ticonderoga, General Amherst was sent to his re- 
lief, and young Montgomery, then but 22 years of age, was one of 

the officers in his corps. He thus became well acquainted with all 
25 



glehjIont, or livisostow manor. 1®5 

the localities in the neighborhood of Lake Champlain, and also of 
Canada, which knowledge became of great use to him in later 
years. 

Headley, in his Washington and his Generals, thus describes 
Montgomery, when in the British service : "One summer eve- 
ning, when a primeval forest covered almost the entire surface of 
this now glorious Union, a young British officer, in rich uniform, 
stood on the shore of Lake Champlain and looked off on that 
beautiful sheet of water. He was only twenty-two years of age, 
and but for his manly, almost perfect form, he would have seemed 
even younger. His skin was fair, and his countenance beautiful 
as a Grecian warrior's. As he stood and gazed on the forest 
gu-dled Lake, studded with islands, his dark eye kindled with the 
poetry of the scene, and he little thought of the destiny before him. 
In the full strength and pride of ripened manhood, he was yet to 
lead over those very waters a band of freemen against the country 
under whose banner he now fought, and fall foremost in freedom's 
battle. That handsome young officer was Richard Montgomery, 
a lieutenant in the British army." 

The British army was successful in the reduction of Montreal 
and Quebec, but Montgomery's leading General, (Wolfe,) was 
killed in storming Quebec in 1759. Montgomery also accom- 
panied the expedition against the French and Spanish West In- 
dies, where he obtained command of a company. The Versailles 
Treaty of 1763 ended that war, and he went to England where he 
remained about nine years. He sold his commission in the 
English army and emigrated to America in the year 1772. He 
probably in his last visit imbibed an attachment for this country. 

After his arrival here he went on a visit to Judge Livings- 
ton's place. Whilst there he paid his addresses to the Judge's eld- 
est daughter, Miss Janet Livingston. It seems they had met some 
years previously, when Montgomery was a captain in the British 
armyj and was then on his way to a distant Western post. That 



196 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

meeting was love at first sight, and made and left a deep and last- 
ing impression on both of them, which was probably the very good 
reason of his disposing of his commission in England and emigi-a- 
ting to Kew York. The marriage soon followed this second meet- 
ing of the lovers, for it took place the 24th of July, 1773. After 
the wedding he piu'chased a large estate of over four hundred 
acres, between Barrytown and Rhinebeck, on the Hudson River, 
known afterwards as Montgomery Place, and occupied by his 
Avidow, her brother, Edward Livingston, and now by Mrs. Barton. 

Montgomeiy devoted his whole time to Agriculture, but never 
moved upon his new estate, for the three short years of domestic 
happiness that his dear Janet and himself Avere only destined to 
enjoy, were spent in a plain frame house about a mile north of 
Rhinebeck village on the Post road, which house Avas taken doAvn 
and removed about five years ago and rebuilt in the village of 
Rhinebeck. His AvidoAV afterAvards erected the fine mansion on 
the river estate. 

They, of course, during those three short years of unalloyed hap- 
piness, had bright visions of long years of continued prosperity in 
store for them, in the anticipated removal at no distant day to their 
fine estate. But the projected house AA^as ncA'er comjjleted for this 
happy pair to occupy together, for Avar, that monster of darkness, 
tore them asunder to meet no more. 

After their marriage, the controversy betAveen the colonies and 
the mother country grcAV Avarmer and Avarmer. Montgomery's 
feelings and his judgment Avere both on the side of his adopted 
country. In 1775 he was elected a member of the first Provincial 
Convention of Ncav York, from Dutchess county. He Avas not a 
very active delegate in the Convention, still his vicAvs were so Avell 
knoAvn that Avhen Congress appointed a Commander-in-Chief and 
other officers, he Avas made one of the eight Brigadier Generals. 
His vicAVS are well expressed in the following letter Avhich he wrote 
to a friend soon after receiving his appointment : 

"Consfress having done me the honor of electing me Brigadier- 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 197 

General in their service, is an event which must put an end for 
awhile, perhaps forever, to the qniet scheme of life I had pre 
scribed for myself; for though entirely unexpected and unde- 
sired by me, the will of an oppressed people, compelled to choose 
between liberty and slavery, must be obeyed." 

Irving, in his Life of Washington, writes thus of Montgomery : 
"At the time of receiving his commission Montgomery was about 
thirty-nine years of age, and the beau ideal of a soldier. His form 
was well proportioned and vigorous ; his countenance expressive 
and prepossessing; he was cool and discriminating in counsel, en- 
ergetic and fearless in action. His principles commanded the Te 
spect of his friends and foes, and he was noted for winning the af 
fections of the soldiery." 

It was in the autumn of 1775 that he was appointed second in 
command under General Schuyler in the expedition against Cana- 
da. But the illness of General Schuyler, about the time the expe 
dition was to start, caused the chief command to devolve upon 
General Montgomery. A day or two before he left for Canada to 
join Schuyler, he went with his wife to pay a parting visit to the 
occupants of the place near Rhinebeck, afterwards occupied by his 
brother-in-law, Mr. Peter R. Livingston. As he was walking on 
the lawn in the rear of the mansion he playfully stuck a willow 
twig in the gi'ound, at the same time making the remark, "let that 
grow to remember me by." It did grow and is now a willow tree 
Avith a trunk at least ten feet in circumference, and called "Mont- 
goraeiy's Willow." 

In accepting the command for the Northern expedition he met 
with no opposition from his wife, for she was all for her country, 
and would rather say to him as the Spartan mother remarked to 
her son, when she gave him a shield, "either return with it or 
upon it," than remain useless at home. Mrs. Montgomery may be 
classed among the heroic and great women of the Revolution. 
She accompanied him on his way North as far as Saratoga, where 
he received the parting kiss and the last word from his loving 



108 OLEHMOMT, on UVIKGSTON MANOR, 

wife, who bid Ixim strike for tlie right and for freedom. It was 
liere she heard him utter those ever memorable words, "you shall 
never have cause to blush for your Montgomery." 

Edward Livingston, at this time but a boy, ever remembered 
this sad jiarting scene, and in his old age thus describes the affect- 
ing departure from his sister Janet, of "her soldier" as she always 
afterwards called General Montgomery. It made such a perma- 
nent impression upon his young mind that even the cares and du- 
ties of his after eventful political life could not shut out or obliter- 
ate this sad scene. "It was just before General Montgomery left 
for Canada, we were all three in her room — he, my sister, and my- 
self He was sitting in a musing attitude between his wife, who, 
sad and silent, seemed to be reading the future, and myself, whose 
childish admiration was divided between the glittering uniform 
and the martial bearing of liira who wore it ; when all of a sudden 
the silence was broken by Montgomery's deep voice repeating the 
following lines, as one who speaks in a dream : 
" 'Tis a mad world, my masters, 
I once thought so, now I know it." 

The tone, the words, the circumstances, all overawed me, and I 
noiselessly retired. I have since reflected upon the bearing of this 
quotation, forcing itself as it were upon the young soldier at that 
moment. Perhaps he might have been contrasting the quiet and 
sweets of the life he held in his grasp Avith the tumults and perils 
of the camp, which he had resolved to seek without a glance at 
what he was leaving behind. These were the last words I heard 
from his lips, and I never saw him more." 

"Montgomery," writes Lossing, "was one of the bravest and 
noblest of the men of his age, when he gave his yoimg wife a 
parting kiss at the house of General Schuyler, at Saratoga, and 
hastened to join that officer at Ticonderoga in the campaign that 
proved fatal to him. Gallantly did he vindicate that pledge, and 
when his virtues were extolled by Barre, Burke, and others in the 
British Parliament, Lord North exclaimed, 'Curse on his virtues, 
be has undone his country.' " 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 199 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

GENERAL MONTGOMERY'S EXPEDITION TO CANADA. 

General Washington received letters from General Schuyler 
which apprehended danger from the interior. The Indians had 
been stiiTcd to hostility in the western part of the State of New 
York, and were preparing to join the British forces in Canada. 
As the Americans were fighting along the seaboard, this movement 
menaced a combination in the rear. Great rivahy had arisen 
between Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold since their exjDloits at 
Ticonderoga and the frontiers of Canada. Both Arnold and Allen 
claimed the command of Ticonderoga — Allen on the authority of 
the Connecticut Assembly, and Ai-nold from the Massachusetts 
Committee of Safety. "Colonel Allen," said Arnold, "is a proper 
man to head his own wild jjeople, but entirely unacquainted witli 
militaiy service, and as I am the only person that has been legally 
authorized to take possession of this place I am determined to 
insist on my right, and shall keep it (the fort,) at every hazard 
until I have further orders." 

The Provincial Congress of New York invited Governor Trum- 
bull, of Connecticut, to send a force to the captured i)0sts, and he 
sent a notice that one thousand men, under Colonel Ilinmau, were 
on the march to Crown Point and Ticonderosra. Congress favored 



200 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

an idea of dismounting the cannon and removing tliem ; and also 
the military stores to the South end of Lake George, and to estab- 
lish a strong post there, but both. Arnold and Allen were opposed 
to such a measure, seeing the gi'eat importance of those forts. 
They both wished to lead an expedition into Canada. 

Allen writes to the New York Congress, "The key is ours ; if the 
Colonies would suddenly push an army of two or three thousand 
men into Canada, they might make an easy conquest of all that 
would oppose them in the extensive province of Quebec, except a 
reinforcement from England should prevent it. Such a diversion 
Avould Aveaken Gage and insure us Canada. I wish to God, 
America would at this critical juncture exert herself agreeably to 
the indignity offered her by a tyrannical ministry. She might rise 
on eagle's wings and mount up to glory, freedom and immortal 
honor, if she did but know and exert her strength. Fame is now 
hovering over her head. A vast continent must now sink to sla- 
very, poverty, horror and bondage, or rise to unconquerable free- 
dom, immense wealth, inexpressible felicity and immortal fame. 
I will lay my life on it, that with fifteen hundred men and a proper 
train of artillery I will take Montreal, provided I could be thus 
furnished, and if an army could command the field it Avould be 
no insuperable difficulty to take Quebec." 

Arnold also wrote to Congress, and wrote in a letter dated from 
Crown Point, as follows : "That Carleton had not six hundred 
effective men under him ; the Canadians and Indians were disaf- 
fected to the British government, and Montreal was ready to throw 
open its gates to a patriot force, two thousand men would be suffi- 
cient, and I beg leave to state that if no person appears who will 
undertake to carry the plan into execution, I will undertake, and 
with the smiles of Heaven answer for the success, provided I am 
supplied with men, &c., to carry it into execution without loss of 
time. In order to give satisfaction to the different Colonies I pro- 
pose tliat Colonel Hinman's regiment, now on their march from 
Connecticut to Ticonderoga, sliould form part of the army, say 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 201 

one thousand men, five hundred men to be sent from New York, 
five hundred of General Arnold's regiment, including the seamen 
and marines on board the vessels, (no Green Mountain boys)." 

Colonel Ilinman, with his Connecticut Regiment, arrived at 
the Point a few days after Arnold had sent the above letter. 
Arnold was in command of the fort at Crown Point, and also the 
fleet, and had about one thousand and fifty men under his com- 
mand, and expected houi'ly to receive a communication from Con 
gress to lead an expedition into Canada. Pie refused to give up 
his post to General Hinman, and at once difficulties arose between 
them. At this juncture three members of the Congress of Massa- 
chusetts arrived as a body to enquire into the manner in which he 
had executed his commission. Arnold was furious. He swore he 
Avould be second to no one in command, disbanded his men, and 
threw uj) his commission. His men became turbulent, and a part 
refused to serve under any other leader ; a part joined Arnold on 
board of the vessels, and some of them enlisted under Col. Easton. 

Arnold set off for Cambridge to settle and talk the matter over 
with the Committee of Safety. Congress at this time did not 
favor an invasion of Canada, but subsequent intelligence changed 
its plans, as they received the news that General Carleton was 
strengthening both fortifications and garrison at St. Johns, and 
building vessels on the shore of the Lake that were nearly ready 
to launch, for the purpose of regaining the command of the Lake, 
and retaking the captured forts and posts. England was also send- 
ing reinforcements. Guy Johnson had been stirring up the Indi- 
ans of the Six Nations, Cayugas, and Senecas, and many in Canada 
favored the Americans. 

Thus influenced by so many considerations Congress at last de- 
termined to fight the British in their stronghold, or the lion in 
his den. Congress ordered General Schuyler, who was in New 
York when he received the order on June 27th, to proceed to 
Ticonderoga, and should he find it practicable, and not disagreeable 

to the Canadians, immediately to take possession of St. Johns and' 
26 



202 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Montreal, and pursue such other measures in Canada as might 
have a tendency to promote the peace and security of those 
provinces. 

Ethan Allen and Seth Warner were at Bennington, among the 
Green Mountains, enlisting men, but too slowly to suit Allen, who 
thus wi'ote to Governor Trumbull on July 12th: "Were it not 
that the great Continental Congress had totally incorporated the 
Green Mountain boys into a battalion under certain regulations 
and command, I would forthwith advance them into Canada and 
invest Montreal, exclusive of any help from the Colonies, though 
under present circumstances I would not for my right arm act 
without or contrary to orders. If my fond zeal for reducing the 
King's fortresses and destroying or imprisoning his troops in 
Canada be the result of enthusiasm, I hope and expect the wisdom 
of the continent will treat it as such ; and on the other hand, if it 
proceed from sound policy, that the plan will be adopted," 

General Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga on the 18th of July, 
1775. After his arrival he wrote to General Washington, as fol 
lows : "You will expect that I should say something about this 
place, and the troops here. Not one earthly thing for offence or 
defence has been done. The commanding officer has no orders, 
he only came to reinforce the garrison, and he expected the 
General about ten o'clock last night. I arrived at the landinsr 
place, at the North end of Lake George, a post occupied by a 
Captain and one hundi-ed men ; a sentinel on being informed that 
I was in the boat, quitted his post to go and awaken the guard ' 
consisting of three men, in Avhich he had no success. I walked 
up and came to another, a sergeant's guard. Here the sentinel 
challenged, but suffered me to come up to him ; the whole guard, 
like the first, in the soundest sleep. With a penknife only I could 
have cut off both guards, and then have set fire to the block house' 
destroyed the stores and starved the people here. At this post I 
had pointedly recommended vigilance and care, as all the stores 
from Lake George must necessarily be lauded here ; but I hope to 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 203 

get the better of this inattention. The officers and men are all 
good looking people, and decent in theu' deportment, and I really 
believe will make good soldiers as soon as I can get the better of 
this nonchalance of theirs. Bravery I believe they are far from 
wanting." 

Colonel Ilinman had in his command at Fort Ticonderoga about 
twelve hundred men, Green Mountain boys, New York and Con- 
necticut troops. General Schuyler upon taking command here, 
sent his agent. Major John Brown, an American, who resided on 
the Sorel River, and who was popular among the Canadians, to 
collect all the information he possibly could of the British forces 
and fortifications in Canada, and to ascertain how St. Johns could 
be most successfully invaded, he preparing boats and making 
other arrangements in case Congress should decide upon invasion. 
From Major Brown General Schuyler soon received the informa- 
tion that there were about seven hundred King's troops only in 
Canada. Three hundred at St. Johns, about fifty at Quebec, and 
the remainder at Montreal, Chamblee, and the upper posts. 

Colonel Guy Johnston had at Montreal three hundi'ed men and 
a large number of Indians. St. Johns was defended by two bat- 
teries of nine guns each, and well intrenched all around. Now 
was the time, according to the information he received, to take the 
post, as many of the Canadians and Indians were disafiected to 
British rule and said to stand ready to join the Americans. After 
obtaining the above information General Schuyler penned this 
letter to General Washington : "I am prepared to move against 
the enemy, unless your Excellency and Congress should direct 
otherwise. In the course of a few days I expect to receive the 
ultimate determination. Whatever it may be I shall try to exe- 
cute it in such a manner as will promote the just cause in which 
we are engaged." 

He repaired to Albany to hold a conference to endeavor to 
negotiate a treaty with the Indians of the Six Nations commis- 
sioned to meet him there. General Montgomery commanding at 



204 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Ticonderoga during his absence, and continuing the military prepa- 
rations. Several Indian Chiefs also met General Washington at 
Cambridge, and they offered to fight for the Americans should 
Canada be invaded. Washington, thinking that the contemplated 
movement ol General Schuyler would make the British concentrate 
all their forces in the vicinity of Montreal and St. Johns, therefore 
proposed sending an expedition of twelve hundred men to Quebec 
by the way of the Kennebec River. 

He thus Avrote General Schuyler : "If you are resolved to pro- 
ceed, which I gather from your last letter is your intention, it 
would make a diversion that would distract Carleton. He ,must 
either break up and follow this party to Quebec, by Avhich he 
would leave you a free passage, or he must suffer that important 
place to fall into other hands ; an event that would have a decisive 
effect and influence on the public interest. The few whom I have 
consulted on the project approve it much, but tlio final determina- 
tion is deferred until I hear from you. Not a moment's time is to 
be lost in the preparations for this enterpiise, if the advices from 
you favor it. With the utmost expedition the season will be con- 
siderably advanced, so that you will dismiss the express as soon 
as possible." 

General Schuyler approved of the project, sent word to General 
Montgomery to have everything in readiness, and then wrote to 
Washington from Albany : "I should not hesitate one moment to 
em))loy any savages that might be willing to join us, and should 
the detachment from jour body penetrate into Canada and we 
meet with success, Canada must inevitably fall into our hands." 
After dispatching these expresses he returned to Ticonderoga, but 
before he reached there. General Montgomery learned that Carle- 
ton had completed his vessels at St. Johns and was about to send 
them into Lake Champlain by Sorel river. No time was to be lost 
if he wished to obtain possession of the Isle aux Noix, which com- 
manded the entrance to the river. General Montgomery with 
great dispatch embarked with about one thousand men, which 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 205 

number filled the boats he had provided, and also took with him 
two pieces of artillery ; with this force he started down the lake. 
Previous to leaving he Avrote a letter to General Schuyler, inform- 
ing him of what he was about to do, expressing his regret at 
being obliged to move or act on the spur of the moment without 
orders, and asking to be excused on the ground that if the enemy 
got his vessels into the lakes it would be too late to accomplish the 
desired purpose. He entreated him to follow in a boat, leaving 
the residue of the artillery to come on as soon as a means of con- 
veyance could be procured. 

General Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga on the night of August 
30th, 1775, but was suddenly taken very ill of a bilious fever, and 
was too sick to follow, as Montgomery had requested, but as soon 
as he felt better had a bed prepared in a covered bateau, and sick 
as he was made a start on the following day and joined Mont- 
gomery at Isle aux Noix, twelve miles south of St. Johns, on the 
4th day of September. 

Leaving General Montgomery encamped as above for a brief 
period, we will call your attention to the other expedition which 
was to start and enter Canada by way of Kennebec River. A 
force of well drilled men were chosen and encamped at Cambridge, 
ready for the expedition. There were ten companies of New 
England infantry, some of General, Greene's Rhode Island regi- 
ments, three from Pennsylvania and Virginia, and a number of 
volunteers ; among them was Aaron Burr, then but twenty years 
of age, who had got up out of a sick bed as soon as he had receiv- 
ed the news that Colonel Arnold was to lead the expedition 
• through the forests of Maine to the attack of Quebec. 

Bm-r's friends tried their best to prevent him, but go he would, 
and in a few days proceeded to the rendezvous, accompanied by 
four or five stout young fellows whom he had fitted out at his own 
expense, they all shouldering arms and walking the whole distance 
to within a few miles of Boston. Burr's uncle wrote him a letter 
commanding him to return, and his physician wrote, "You will 



20G CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

die, it is imiDOSsible for you to endure the fatigue," but he refused 
to return, and liis health improved by the liealthful exercise and 
camp life. 

This expedition required a leader of great daring, and such a 
leader it had in Arnold. He was well acquainted with all parts of 
Canada, having before the war sold and traded horses at Quebec, 
which he brought from the West Indies. Washington, after ap- 
pointing him to the command, Avrote to him as follows : "Upon 
your conduct and courage and that of the officers and soldiers 
detailed on this expedition, not only the success of this jn'esent en- 
terprise and your own honor, but the safety and welfare of the 
whole continent, may depend. I charge you therefore, and the 
officers and soldiers under your command, as you value yoiu* own 
safety and honor and the favor and esteem of your country, that 
you consider yourselves as marching, not through the country of 
an enemy, but of our friends and brethren, for such the inhabitants 
of Canada and the Indian nations have approved themselves in 
this unha2:)py contest between Great Britain and America, and 
that you check by every motive of duty and fear of punishment 
every attempt to plunder and insult the inhabitants of Canada. 
Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure 
any Canadian or Indian in his person or property, I do most earn- 
estly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary pun 
ishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it ex- 
tend to death itself it will not be disproportionate to its guilt, at 
such a time and in such a cause. I also give in charge to you, to 
avoid all disrespect to the religion of the country and its ceremo- 
nies. While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be 
very cautious not to violate the rights of conscience in others, ever 
considering that Gcd alone is the judge of the hearts of men and 
to him only in this case are they answerable." 

In the general letter of instructions Washington inserted tliis 
clause : "If Lord Chatham's son should be in Canada, and in any 
way fall into your power, you are enjoined to treat him with all 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR, 207 

possible deference and respect. You cannot err in paying too 
much honor to the son of so ilhistrions a character and so true a 
friend to America." 

Arnold was well supplied with hand-bills to distribute in Cana- 
da, setting forth the friendly objects of the expedition, and calling 
on Canadians to fiu'nish necessaries and accommodations of all 
kinds, for which they were to be amj^ly repaid. It was on the 
13th of September, 1775, that Arnold and his forces set out for the 
North ; he had obtained the command he so much wanted, and 
had headed off his rival, Ethan Allen. He was to push forward up 
Kennebec river and try to reach Quebec by the middle of October. 

General Montgomery, it is remembered, had sent Major Brown 
to reconnoitre the country between the Sorel river and the St. 
Lawrence. He had also sent Colonel Ethan Allen on an expedi- 
tion of a similar character. The forces proceeded up Sorel river 
in boats to within two miles of St. Johns, where they opened their 
cannon upon the fort ; they here landed and marched to about a 
mile and a half of the fort, where they formed their lines in a deep 
thick wilderness or swamp ; here they encountered roving bands 
of Tories and Indians, whom they defeated with but slight loss to 
either side. The shells from the fort kept constantly bursting in 
their camp throughout the night, but doing very little damage. 

A messenger arrived during the night with secret information 
to Schuyler and Montgomery of tlie condition of the fort. The 
works were said to be strong and well furnished with cannon, 
and a vessel with sixteen guns mounted was nearly ready to sail. 
The matter was well discussed over in camp, and the Generals con- 
cluding they had not the necessary cannon, nor sufficient men to 
un dertake a siege, therefore returned to the Isle aux Noix, threw 
up earth- works and placed a boom across the river to prevent any 
vessel of the enemy from entering the lake, and determined here 
to await the arrival of artillery and reinforcements, which had been 
ordered to follow them with dispatch from Ticonderoga. 



208 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

GENERAL MONTGOMERY'S EXPEDITION TO CANADA, CONTINUED. 

Great preparations were made by the Americans to attack St_ 
Johns by land and water. Major Brown, the scout, was sent with 
a small force of one hundred Americans and thirty Canadians, to 
advance towards Chamblee, make friends, drum up more men, 
and then join the main body of the army in the proposed attack 
on St. Johns. Ethan Allen had been sent in another direction to 
gain recruits from the country he had recently visited, as described 
in a former chapter. He took thirty men with him and proceeded 
to La Prairie. 

At this time General Schuyler was again taken ill, with a com- 
plication of maladies. He was very sick one night, and for many 
days after the attack was confined to his bed, and thus was com- 
pelled to surrender all thoughts of leading the army to St. Johns. 
He gave up the command into the able hands of General Mont- 
gomery. After surrendering the command General Schuyler re- 
turned to Ticonderoga on a bed in a bateau, to hurry forw'ard the 
reinforcements and supplies for Montgomery. About five miles 
from camp he met Colonel Seth Warner with one hundred and 
seventy Green Mountains boys hastening forward in boats on the 
river to join Montgomery. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 209 

Ethan Allen in the meantime was not idle. A week after he 
left the camp at Isle aux Noix he was at St. Om-s, twelve miles 
south of the Sorel river, with a force of two hundred and fifty Ca- 
nadians under arms. He wrote to General Montgomeiy that with- 
in three day's time he would be at St. Johns with a force of five 
hundred Canadians. On his way to join Montgomery he marched 
n]) the East side of the St. Lawrence river to Longueval ; between 
the last named place and La Prairie he met the noted Major 
Brown, with his advance of Americans and Canadians, who in- 
formed him that Montreal was weak and not half defended, and 
said he, "Let us join forces and make an attack upon the city." 
Allen was ready for anjihing that required activity and daring, 
and as he had confidence in Major Brown's courage and judgment, 
he agreed to the proposition. So without orders from General 
Montgomery, Allen returned to Longueval, procured canoes with 
which to cross the St. Lawrence below the city with his force, 
while Major Brown was to cross above the town with two hun- 
dred men, and each was to make the attack on the two sides at 
the same moment. 

A rough, Avindy, stormy night was that of September 24th, 1775 
when Colonel Ethan Allen crossed the river with his force of but 
one hundred and ten men, eighty Canadians and thirty Americans. 
The canoes were so small and frail that they had to make three 
trips to take the Avhole number over the foaming white mass. It 
was cai-ly in the morning of the following day that Allen listened 
for the signal gun of Major Brown, but he heard it not, and it be- 
came too evident that he had not succeeded in crossing the river. 
Allen would have recrossed the river if he could have embarked 
his forces and all crossed at one time, but as this was impossible, 
he established j^ickets on all the roads to stop all persons from car- 
rying any information to Montreal. 

But he was discovered at last, and from out of the old city gates 
issued a force of about forty British, two hundred Canadians, and 

some Indians. Allen fought bravely, notwithstanding that he was 

27 • 



210 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

SO much outnumbered, and the battle continued for over an hour 
and three quarters. His men having at last all deserted but twen- 
ty-eight, one of whom was wounded, Allen agreed to surrender if 
promised honorable terms. They were marched to Montreal, the 
officers treating them civilly, and were delivered into the custody 
of General Prescott, from Avhom they met with the most brutal 
treatment, and upon his discovering that Allen was the man that 
had captm-ed Ticonderoga, first threatened to hang him, then had 
him bound hand and foot with irons, and sent him on board the 
war schooner Gaspee. A bar of iron eight feet long was attached 
to his chains, and his men were handcuffed in pairs, and he and 
they thrust into the lowest part of the vessel v/ithout beds or 
seats. 

The cause of the failure to cross the river by Major Brown has 
never been explained. If he had done so the attack would doubt' 
less have been successful. Both Allen and Brown were blamed, 
and not unjustly, as they were acting without orders. 

We cannot refrain from giving Allen's own account of his re- 
ception by the British officer. Allen was clothed in the rough 
frontier style, a deer skin jacket, a vest and breeches of coarse 
serge, worsted stockings, stout shoes, and a red woolen cap. "He 
asked my name," said Allen, "which I told him ; he then asked mo 
whether I was that Colonel Allen who took Ticonderoga ; I told 
him I was the very man ; then he shook his cane over my head, 
calling me many hard names, among which he frequently used the 
word Rebel, and put himself in a great rage." 

From Allen's place of confinement on board the ship he wrote 
as follows to General Prescott: 

"Honorable Sm : — In the whirl of transitory events I find my- 
self prisoner and in irons. Probably your honor has certain rea- 
sons, to me inconceivable, though I challenge an instance of this 
sort of economy of the Americans during the late war, to any offi- 
cers of the Crown. On my part I have to assure your honor that 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR, 211 

when I had the command and took Captain Delaplace and Lieu- 
tenant Fulton, with the garrison of Ticonderoga, I treated them 
with every mark of friendshij^ and generosity, the evidence of 
which is notorious, even in Canada. I have only to add that I 
expect an honorable and humane treatment, as an officer of my 
rank and merit should have, and subscribe myself your honor's 
most obedient servant, "ETHAN ALLEN." 

General Schuyler wrote thus of Allen's reckless dash at Mon- 
treal : "I am apprehensive of disagreeable consequences arising 
from Colonel Allen's imprudence. I always di'eaded his impa- 
tience of subordination, and it was not until after a solemn prom- 
ise made me in the presence of several officers, that he would de- 
mean himself with propriety, that I woiald permit him to attend 
the army, nor would I have consented then, had not his solicita- 
tions been backed by several officers." 

Washington also censured him severely, he wrote ; "His misfor- 
tune will, I hope, teach a lesson of prudence and subordination to 
others who may be ambitious to outshine their general officers, and 
regardless of order and duty rush into enterprises which have un- 
favorable effects on the public and are destructive to themselves.' 

General Washington felt great solicitude about Arnold, as he 
received a letter from him, dated ten days previously, fi*om Fort 
Western, on the Kennebec river. He had sent parties ahead to 
explore the country and he was making his way by land and 
water through an uninhabited and unexplored wilderness, and 
beyond reach of recall. Soon after this he received a letter from 
Arnold, dated October 13th, 1775, from a place between Kenne- 
bec and Dead rivers, where he wrote thus : "Your Excellency may 
possibly think we have been tardy in our march, as we have gained 
so little, but when you consider the badness of the route, and the 
weight of the bateaux, and the large quantities of provisions, &c., 
we have been obliged to force up against a very rapid stream 
where you would have taken the men for amphibious animals, as 
they were a great part of the time under water; add to this the 



212 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

great fatigue in the portage, you will think I have pushed the men 
as fast as they could possibly bear. The last division has just 
arrived, three divisions are over the first carrying place, and as the 
men are in high spirits, I make no doubt of reaching the river 
Chaudiere in eight or ten days, the greatest difficulty I hope being 
ah'cady past." 

The toils up Kennebec river and through the wilderness were 
great. A part of the men marched along the banks, a part 
managed the boats ; wherever there were rapids they had to 
unload and cany stores, boats, &c., sometimes for miles ; they had 
to labor against swift currents and often in cataracts ; the boats 
were upset, and ai'ms, ammunition and provisions damaged. The 
land force had to scramble over rocks and precipices, cut their way 
through tangled thickets, wade through mucky swamps, and could 
make at best but eight or ten miles per day. At night both divis- 
ions encamped together. 

But we must return to General Montgomery's army. On Octo- 
ber 13th, 1775, Majors Livingston and Brown attacked and cap- 
tured Chamblec, a fort within five miles of St. Johns. They had 
with them fifty Americans and three hundred Canadians. A large 
quantity of gunpowder and military stores fell into General Mont- 
gomery's hands. He now advanced his lines and pressed the 
siege of St. Johns with vigor, and cut oif all supplies from reach- 
ing the garrison, who were suflferiug from want of provisions. 
But their commander. Major Preston, still held out, hoping hourly 
to receive relief from General Carleton, who had been gathering 
troops and promised assistance from Montreal. General Carleton 
had several hundred Canadians, some Indians, and a Scotch regi- 
ment under Colonel Maclean, a Scot, three hundred strong, called 
"The Royal Highland Emigrants." 

General Montgomery, learning of the cruelty with which Allen 
and his men were treated at Montreal, addressed a letter to Carle- 
ton on the subject : "Your character. Sir, induces me to hope I 
Jim ill informed, nevertheless, the duty I owe the troops commit- 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 213 

ted to my charge, lays me under the necessity of acquainting your 
Excellency that if you allow this conduct, and persist in it, I shall, 
though with the most painful regret, execute with vigor the just 
and necessary law of retaliation upon the garrison of Chamblee, 
now in my possession, and upon all others who may hereafter 
fall into my hands. I shall expect your Excellency's answer with- 
in six days. Should the bearer not return in that time, I must 
interpret your silence into a declaration of a barbarous war. I 
cannot pass this opportunity without lamenting the melancholy 
and fatal necessity which obliges the firmest friends of the consti 
tution to ojjpose one of the most respectable officers of the crown." 

General Montgomery, who had become accustomed to the im- 
plicit obedience of European troops, was greatly displeased with 
the continued want of subordination and discipline among these 
yeomen soldiers. He writes : "They carry the spirit of freedom 
into the field, and think for themselves. Were I not afraid the 
example would be too generally followed, and that the public ser- 
vice might sufiei', I would not stay an hour at the head of troops 
whose operations I cannot direct. I must say I have no liopcs of 
success unless from the garrison's wanting provisions." 

He commenced the bombardment of the fort on both sides. 
He took four prisoners, whose tidings made him order the firing 
to cease, as they reported that General Carleton had embarked his 
forces on the 31st of September, in thirty-four boats, crossed the 
St. Lawrence, landed at Longueval, and marched for St. Johns. 
This report was true, but as Carleton's forces in the boats neared 
the bank of the river at Longueval, a terrible fire of musketry and 
artillery opened upon them from the woods on the bank of the 
river, and threw them into great confusion. It was Colonel Seth 
Warner's force of New York troops and Green Mountain boys 
who thus unexpectedly appeared. 

Carleton was defeated, without being able to give battle. Many 
of his boats were destroyed, some upset, and with what was left Of 
his force, he retreated as fast as possible to Montreal. General 



21'4 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Montgomery, well knowing that the garrison in the fort at St. 
Johns had only held out in expectation of the arrival of Carleton's 
force, sent a flag of truce, asking Major Preston to surrender. 
Preston agi'eed to do so in four days, if no relief appeared in that 
given time. These conditions General Montgomery refused. 
Major Preston then determined to surrender, which he accordingly 
did. The garrison numbered one hundred Canadians, and five 
hundred British regulars. 

General Montgomery treated Major Preston and his men with 
courtesy, and having sent all the prisoners under a guard up Lake 
Chamjilain to Ticonderoga, prepared to march immediately on 
Montreal, and wrote to General Schuyler to forward as soon as 
possible all the men he could spare. He also wrote : "Not a word 
from Arnold yet. I have sent two expresses to him lately, one by 
an Indian who promised to return Avith the expedition. The 
instant I have any news of him I will acquaint you by express." 

General Montgomery arrived at Montreal on the 12th of Novem- 
ber, and as General Carleton could not obtain reinforcements, and 
hearing that Arnold was expected at Point Levi, he embarked his 
men and retreated down the St. Lawrence river to oppose Arnold. 
He proceeded in a whale boat with muflled oars through Mont- 
gomery's rafts and boats on a dark night, and reached Quebec in 
safety. On the 13th of November Montreal surrendered to Gen. 
Montgomery. He left a small garrison there, and then liastcned 
onward towards Quebec. 

When the news of his successes reached Congress he was pro- 
moted to the rank of Major-General. Montgomery's" great object 
was the capture of Carleton, but he had escaped, as stated. He 
now descended the St. LaAvrence towards Quebec ; but four hun- 
dred troops was all the force he could muster ; after having 
garrisoned the three places he had captm'ed, and sending a guard 
back with his prisoners. Some pleaded ill health, with others their 
term of enlistment had expired and they had returned home. 
General Montgomery was wearied with constant vexations, and 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 215 

only his gratitude to Congress, and the welfare of his adopted 
country could have induced him to continue in the service. 

He thus writes to General Schuyler : "Will not your health per- 
mit you to reside in Montreal this winter ? I must go home if I 
walk by the side of the Lake. I am weary of power, and totally 
want that patience and temper so requisite for such a command. 
An affair happened yesterday, November 24th, which had very 
near sent me home. A number of officers presumed to remons- 
trate against the indulgence I had given some of the King's troops. 
Such an insult I could not bear, and immediately resigned. To- 
day they qualified it by such an apology as put it in my power to 
resume the command. I wish some method could be fallen upon 
for engaging gentlemen to serve. A point of honor, and more 
knowledge of the world, to be found in that class of men, would 
greatly reform discipline, and render the troops much more 
tractable." 

General Montgomery now received letters from Arnold that he 
was approaching Quebec, It was now the latter part of Novem- 
ber, and winter in that Northern latitude had set in. After aban- 
doning the boats, through di-iving snoAV storms, and over badly 
di'ifted and most impassable roads, they proceeded onward. Thus 
they marched until tlie walls of Quebec arose before them. Here 
he found Arnold, and these two brave men combined their small 
forces and laid plans for the reduction of that stronghold. 

General Montgomery being the Chief in Command, and finding 
his forces were not sufficient to make regular approaches, com- 
menced to bombard the town. He tried five small mortars first, 
but finding them ineffectual, he planted a battery of six cannon 
and a howitzer about forty rods from the walls and continued the 
constant firing upon the place. The snow being very deep, and 
the ground hard frozen, he was obliged to place his guns on blocks 
of ice. His cannon were not hea^y enough to make impression 
on the solid walls of Quebec. His troops were suffering terribly 
from frost and exposure, the camp was surrounded by huge drifts 



216 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

of snow, the small-pox also broke out among the men, and those 
attacked with it were ordered to wear sprigs of hemlock in their 
caps, to warn the other men to keep away from them ; these sprigs 
increased very rapidly. We will now leave General Montgomery, 
half buried in snow with his army before Quebec, and trace 
Arnold's expedition through the wilderness, as he is so closely con- 
nected Avith Montgomery in the attack on Quebec that a full 
account of tlie trials of both forces is desirable. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 217 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

AKNOLD's advance to QUEBEC TO JOIN MONTGOMEKY. 

On September 20th, Arnold, with a force of eleven hundred 
men, embarked at Newburyi^ort, in eleven transports, and after 
sailing to the month of Kennebec river, Maine, foimd there two 
hundi'ed light bateaux, suitable for shallow water and not too heavy 
to cany when compelled to do so. In a few days they had passed 
the last signs of civilization, and found themselves working their 
way through a wilderness which the foot of none but the Indian 
had trod. For thii'ty-two days no trace of human beings was seen. 
Forty times or more the boats had to be carried, with all the am- 
munition, provisions, and the sick, around rapids, ftills, over hills, 
and through heavy marshes. 

Lossing, in his American Revolution, thus wiites of Arnold's 
march: "This expedition of Arnold, in its conception and execu- 
tion, is one of the most remarkable on record, and whatever blem- 
ishes afterwards appeai'ed on his character, one thing cannot be 
denied, that he was a man of great sagacity and boldness of char- 
acter, and as brave an officer as ever commanded an army. At his 
own request he was dispatched to Quebec with about eleven hun- 
dred men. The route was then a dreary desert, intersected by dense 

forests and swamps. Starting from Cambridge, the headquarters 
28 



218 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

of the army blockading Boston, he marched one hundred and tliir- 
ty miles nortliAvard of that city, and embarked with his men in 
bateaux upon the rough and tortuous Kennebec." 

He was totally ignorant of the stream he was ascending, for it 
had never been surveyed. The river was full of craggy rocks, 
shoals, falls, rapids, and other dangers, too numerous to mention* 
But, fearless leader that he was, he pressed on. One of the Colo- 
nels in his command, (Enos,) got entangled in the Avindings ot 
the Dead river, a branch of the Kennebec, and being out of pro- 
visions, returned home, with nearly one-third of the Avhole of Ai'n- 
old's force. The river being impassable for boats, Arnold aban- 
doned them, and for thirty-two days traversed a dreary wilderness. 
The troops suffered dreadfully, but without murmuring. 

It was on November 3d, that he reached the first Canadian set- 
tlement on Chaudiere river, which flows into the St. Lawrence 
nearly opposite Quebec. It was the 9th of November when his 
forces reached Point Levi, opposite Quebec. Arnold's officers 
were Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Greene, (the hero of Red 
Bank on the Delaware,) Majors Meigs and Bigelow ; the riflemen 
were commanded by that great partisan leader. Captain Daniel 
Morgan. Ai-nold's soldiers were almost famished ; some had not 
tasted food for forty-eight hours. When they arrived on the 
banks of the Chaudiere, they had cooked dogs, and others had 
boiled their moccasins, cartouch boxes, and other articles of leather, 
in the hopes of rendering them eatable. 

A letter written by an inhabitant of Point Levi describes the 
strange appearance there of Arnold's army : "There are about five 
hundi-ed Provincials an-ived at Point Levi, opposite to the town, 
by the way of Chaudiere, across the woods. Surely a miracle 
must have been wrought in their favor. It is an undertaking 
above the common race of men, in this debauched age. They 
have traveled through woods and bogs, and over precipices, for the 
space of one hundi-ed and twenty miles, attended with evei-y incon. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 219 

venience and difficulty, to be surmounted only by men of indefati- 
gable zeal and industry." 

Hildreth, in his History of the United States, writes of the wil- 
derness traversed by Arnold as follows : "Colonel Montressor, a 
British officer, had traversed the wilderness fifteen years before. 
He ascended the Chaudiere from Quebec, crossed the highlands 
near the head waters of the Penobscot, passed through Moosehead 
lake, and entered the eastern branch of the Kennebec. Arnold 
possessed an imperfect copy of the printed journal of Montressor, 
and this with information received from some St. Francis Indians 
who visited Washington's camp, gave him an idea of the country 
and the privations his men must suffer. The same region was 
traversed by a French Missionary named Dreuillettes, more than 
two hundred years before. He crossed the St. Lawrence to the 
sources of the Kennebec, down which river he descended to its 
mouth, and thence coasted eastward to the Missionary station on 
the Penobscot." 

Judge Henry, who at the close of the last century was President 
of the Second Judicial District in Pennsylvania, was one of Ar- 
nold's soldiers in this expedition, and wrote as follows in his nar- 
rative of it, in reference to the destitute condition of the troops be- 
fore food was sent back from Sertigan : "Coming to a low, sandy 
beach of the Chaudiere, for we sometimes had such, some of our 
companies were observed to dart from the file, and with their nails 
tear out of the sands roots which they esteemed eatable, and ate 
them raw, even without washing. The knowing one sprang, half 
a dozen followed, he who obtained it eat the root instantly. They 
had not received food for the last forty-eight hours." 

General Dearborn wrote to Rev. William Allen at the time : 
"My dog was very large and a great favorite. I gave him up to 
several men of Captain Goodrich's company. They carried him 
to their company, and killed and divided him among those who 
were sufiering most severely from hunger. They eat every part 
of him, not excepting his entrails." 



220 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

It was about fifty days after leaving Newburyport, when Arnold, 
with but half the force he started with, saw the heights of Quebec. 
He had led that army through a wilderness of six hundred miles. 
As he ajjproached Quebec it became of great importance to him 
that he should send word to General Montgomery, as his numbers 
were so reduced that it was utterly impossible for him to move 
against Quebec without General Montgomery's co-operation. 

The difficult task of conveying a verbal message one hundred 
and twenty miles through an enemy's country, and alone, was 
given to young Aaron Burr. Well did he perform the mission. 
Burr, who had much tact and a pleasant address, well knew that 
the French in Canada, especially the Catholic Clergy, abhorred 
the aggressive rule of the British. He therefore assumed the 
bearing and dress of a young priest, and presented himself at the 
first house of a priest that came in his way. Being a good Latin 
scholar, and also understanding French, he pronounced Latin in 
the French manner. He made quite a f ivorable impression on 
the aged priest, when, after throwing aside his garb, he frankly 
told him who he was, and asked his aid for the further prosecution 
of his journey. 

The priest was surprised that such a mere boy should have the 
courage to undertake so dangerous a journey in an enemy's coun- 
try alone, and whose fate, if captured, would be that of a spy. 
But finding that he was composed of sterner stuff than most mor- 
tals, and old in courage if not in years, gave him all the informa- 
tion he could, and also a trusty guide, and an old wagon and horse. 
From one priest's house to another he was conveyed by the guide 
in perfect safety, and his journey appeared one of pleasure, rather 
than one of danger ; and only once was his progress onward at all 
interrupted. 

This was at Three Tiivers, where the people, hearing rumors of 
Arnold's arrival, were greatly excited, and the authorities watch- 
ful to prevent communication if possible between Arnold and 
Montgomery. The guide, fearing capture, would not proceed 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 221 

further, and at last prevailed upon Burr to conceal himself in a 
convent in the vicinity. Here they remained concealed for three 
days, until the excitement had somewhat subsided. After that 
length of time had elapsed, the guide consenting to proceed, they 
left the convent and reached Montreal without further detention. 
Burr immediately repaired to Montgomery's headquarters, gave 
the information which was the object of his journey, and naii'ated 
Arnold's tramp through the wilderness, and his own through 
Canada. General Montgomery was so much pleased with Buit's 
appearance and his courage that he requested him, on the spot, to 
accept a place on his staff, and a few days after he was formally 
announced as one of the General's Aid-de Camps, with rank of 
Captain. 

General Washington was greatly pleased when he received the 
news of the capture of Montreal. He thus wrote to General 
Schuyler, alluding to Arnold : "The merit of this gentleman is 
certainly great, and I heartily wish that fortune may distinguish 
him as one of her favorites. I am convinced that he will do 
everything that prudence and valor shall suggest to add to the suc- 
cess of our arms, and for reducing Quebec to our possession. 
Should he not be able to accomj^lish so desirable a work with the 
forces he has, I flatter myself that it will be effected when General 
Montgomery joins him, and our conquest of Canada will be com- 
plete." 

It was about eight o'clock in the morning when Arnold and his 
army emerged from the wilderness and stood upon the banks of 
the St. Lawrence. Quebec was at once thrown into a great state 
of alarm ; drums beat to arms. Arnold determined to cross the 
river immediately, but for several days and nights such a tempest 
of wind and rain set in that he was obliged to wait. He obtained 
about forty birch bark canoes, and about 9 P. M. on the evening 
of November 13th, 1775, he commenced to cross, and before day- 
light the next morning the whole force had crossed the St. Law- 
rence river and formed lines at Wolfe's Cave. The garrison at 



222 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Quebec was daily gaining strength and there was not much time 
to lose. Recruits had arrived at Qaehec from Nova Scotia. Mc- 
Lean, and his corps of Royal Highland Emigrants, who had been 
defeated at the mouth of the river Sorel by Colonel Livingston's 
and Major Brown's forces of Montgomery's army, had also joined 
the forces in Quebec. The Lizard, frigate. Hornet, sloop-of-war, 
and two armed schooners, were stationed in the river, and guard 
boats patrolled at night. 

The prospect was any but an inviting one. Arnold only man- 
aged to cross by careful watching, and favored by the darkness of 
the night. On the 13th Arnold received the news that Montgom- 
ery had captured St. Johns. He and his men were greatly cheered 
by these tidings. 

Wolfe's Cave is situated about a mile and a half above Cape 
Diamond. It was at that point that General Wolfe landed before 
making his attack on Quebec, sixteen years previously to Arnold's 
arrival. Arnold, at early dawn, led the attack in person, and just 
after daylight i^lanted his flag on the far famed heights of Abra- 
liam. But here a new difficulty appeared before him ; a long line 
of wall and bastions traversed the heights from one of its rocky 
sides to the other. On the right was the great bastion of Cape 
Diamond, crowning the height of that name. Upon the left was 
the bastion of La Potasse, near the gate of St. Johns, the spot 
where Montcalm was killed in defending Quebec. Arnold held a 
council of war. He was for immediately advancing and storming 
the gate of St. Johns. Had he done so he probably would have 
been successful, as the gate was then unguarded. But while they 
deliberated the favorable moment passed away, and Arnold's forces 
looked with dismay upon those massive walls. 

They had no artillery, and half their arms were rendered useless 
from their march through the swamps of the wilderness, and they 
numbered but seven hundred and fifty men. Arnold expected 
help from within Quebec from friendly Canadians. He drew up 
his men within eight hundred yards of the walls and gave three 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 223 

cheers, thinking the troops would rush out to attack him, and the 
gates being open he might rush in, and with the aid of friends 
within captm'e the place. The parapets of the walls were lined 
by hundreds of people, and many of them cheered in return. 

The British troops fired a thirty -two pounder at Arnold's men, 
but not a man was injured. They were afraid to trust the French 
within the city and would not be led out by Arnold's bait. Ar 
nold sent a flag of truce to 3IcLean with a formal summons to sur- 
render, but it was treated wnth insult, the bearer being fired upon. 
Arnold, upon inspecting his ammunition and stores, to his surprise 
found that nearly all the cartridges were spoiled, hardly five rounds 
to a man being left, and learning from his friends within the city 
that an attack was to be made upon him soon, and also receiving 
the news of the capture of Montreal by Montgomery and that 
Carleton having escaped from that place was on his way to Que- 
bec, he determined at any rate for the present to draw ofi'his army 
to Point aux Trembles, (aspen tree point,) twenty miles above Que- 
bec, and there to await the arrival of General Montgomery with 
troops and artillery. 

This withdrawal took place on the 19th inst. While awaiting 
Montgomery's arrival he received the following letter from Gen- 
eral Washington : "It is not in the poAver of any man to command 
success, but yovi have done more, you have deserved it, and before 
this time (December 5th,) I hope you will have met with the laii- 
rels which are due to your toils in the possession of Quebec. , I 
have no doubt but a junction of your detachment with the army 
under General Montgomery is efiected before this. If so, you will 
put yourself under his command, and will, I am persuaded, give 
him all the assistance in your power to finish the glorious work 
you have begun." 

On the 31st of December, 1775, Washington received the cheer- 
ing intelligence from Canada that a junction had taken place, a 
month previously, between Aroold and Montgomery at Point aux 



224 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Trembles. Tliey were about two thousand strong, and were 
making every preparation for attacking Quebec. Carleton was 
said to have with him at Quebec but twelve hundred men, the 
majority of whom were sailors. It was thought that the French 
would surrender if they could obtain the same terras that were 
granted to the garrison and inhabitants of Montreal.* Upon Ar- 
nold's arrival at Point aux Trembles he was informed that Carle- 
ton had only left Montreal but a few hours previously and soon 
afterwards he heard the cannonading at Quebec, that welcomed 
him to that city. 

♦Letter of Washington to the President of Congress, December 31st, 1775. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 225 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

GENERAL MONTGOMERY'S EXPEDITION TO C.VNADA, CONTINUED. 

After the juuction of the two armies General Montgomery estab- 
lished his headquarters at Holland House, and Arnold occupied a 
house near Scott's Bridge. The army was encamped near the In- 
tendant's Palace, by the St. Charles, in the suburb of St. Roche. 
On December oth, Montgomery thus wrote to General Schuyler : 
"I propose amusing Mr. Carleton with a formal attack, erecting 
batteries, &c., but mean to assault the works, I believe towards 
the lower tOAvn, which is the weakest part. There is a style of 
discipline among Arnold's men, much superior to what I have 
been used to see in this campaign. He himself (Ai-nold,) is active, 
intelligent and enterprising. Fortune often baffles the sanguine 
expectations of poor mortals. I am not intoxicated with her 
favors, but I do think there, is a fair prosj^ect of success." 

Upon the day of General Montgomery's arrival at Quebec he 
sent a flag with a summons to surrender. It was fired upon and 
obliged to retire. General Montgomery thereupon wrote an in- 
dignant, reproachful letter to Carleton, on this outrage. By 
Carleton's orders the messenger -was put in prison a few days and 

then drammed out of the town, General Montgomery now made 
29 



226 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

every preparation for an attack upon Quebec. The ground was 
frozen very hard, and he was not well provided with intrenching 
tools, and had only one field train of artillery and a few mortars. 
But with great labor he managed to thi'ow up a breastwork about 
four hundred yards from the walls, and opposite the centre of the 
enemy's works, called the gate of St. Louis. A part of his works 
were formed of ice, or snow thrown up and water thrown over 
until thoroughly frozen. 

The following letter, written at that time by General Mont- 
gomery to his brother-in-law, Chancellor Livingston, then a mem- 
ber of Congress, is interesting : "For the good fortune which has 
hitherto attended us, I am, I hope, sufficiently thankful, but this 
very fortune, good as it has been, will become a serious and insur- 
mountable evil, should it lead Congress either to overrate our 
means, or to underrate the difficulties we have yet to contend with. 
I need not tell you, until Quebec is taken Canada is uuconquered, 
and that, to accomplish this, we must resort to siege, investment 
or storm. The first of these is out of the question, from the diffi- 
culty of making trenches in a Canadian Avinter, and the greater 
difficulty of living in them, if we could make them. Secondly, 
from the nature of the soil, which, as I am at present insti'ucted, 
renders mining impracticable, and were this otherwise, from the 
want of an engineer having sufficient skill to direct the process. 
And thirdly, from the fewness and lightness of our artillery, which 
is quite unfit to break walls like those of Quebec. 

"Investment has fewer objections and might be sufficient were 
we able to shut out entirely from the garrison and town the neces- 
sary supplies of food and fuel during the winter ; but to do this 
well, the enemy's Avorks being very extensive, and ofiermg many 
avenues to the neighboring settlements, will require a large army, 
and from present appearances mine will not, when brought 
together, much, if at all, exceed eight hundred combatants. Of 
Canadians I might be able to get a considerable number, provided 
I had hard money Avith Avhich to clothe, feed, and pay theii* wages, 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 227 

but this is wanting ; unless, therefore, I am soon and amply rein- 
forced, investment, like siege, must be given up. To the storming 
plan there are fewer objections, and to this we must come at last. 
If my force is small, Carleton's is not great ; the extensiveness of 
his works, which, in case of investment, would favor him, will in 
the other case favor us. Masters of our secret, we may select a 
particular time and place for attack, and to repel this the garrison 
must be prepared at all times and places, a circumstance which 
will impose upon it incessant watching and labor by day and by 
night, which, in its undisciplined state, must breed discontents 
that may compel Garleton to capitulate, or perhaps to make an 
attempt to drive us off. In this last idea there is a glimmering of 
hope. Wolfe's success was a lucky hit, or rather a series of lucky 
hits. All sober and scientific calculation was against him until 
Montcalm, permitting his courage to get the better of his discre- 
tion, gave up the advantages of his fortress and came out to try 
his strength on the plain. Carleton, who was Wolfe's Quarter- 
master General, understands this well, and it is to be feared will 
not follow the Frenchman's example. 

"In all these views you will discover much uncertainty, but of 
one thing you may be sure, that unless we do something before 
the middle of April the game will be up, because by that time the 
river may open and let in supplies and reinforcements to the garri- 
son in spite of anything we can do to prevent it ; and again be- 
cause my troops are not engaged beyond that time, and will not 
be prevailed l^pon to stay a day longer. In reviewing what I have 
said you will find that my list of wants is a long one ; men, 
money, artillery, and clothing, accommodated to climate. Of 
ammunition, Carleton took care to leave little behind him. What 
I wish and expect is that all this be made known to Congress with 
a full assurance that if I fail to execute their wishes or commands 
it shall not be from any negligence of duty or infirmity of purpose 
on my part. Vale cave ne mamlata frangas.'" 

General Montgomery ordered Captain Lamb to mount five light 



228 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

field pieces and a liowitzer on the breastworks described. Several 
mortars were placed on the left of the promontory, below the 
heights, on a level with the river. From this ice battery Captain 
Lamb fired upon the stone walls, but the guns were not heavy 
enough to damage them, but with his mortars he set the town on 
fire in several places by shells. He continued this firing night and 
day for the space of five days. The object of General Montgomery 
was to endeavor to create dissatisfaction among the inhabitants. 
All his flags of truce being fired upon, he got some Indians to fire 
arrows into the town with letters Mtached to them, urging them 
to rise in a body and resist Carleton. But it was all in vain, for 
the military preserved order in the town. On the fifth day Mont- 
gomery paid a visit to the ice battery. The cannon balls from 
Quebec had shivered the ice ramparts — one cannon was disabled, 
the flying balls sending huge pieces of ice into the air. "This is 
warm work, Captain Lamb," said Montgomery. "It is indeed," 
replied Lamb,* "and no place for you, sir." "Why so, Captain V 
"Because there are enough of us here to be killed, without the loss 
of you, which would be irreparable." 

Montgomery, seeing the utter uselessness of this battery, ordered 
Lamb to cease firing, and leave it where he thought proper. 
Montgomery was attended in this visit by his Aide-de-Camp, 
Aaron Burr, whose perfect coolness made Lamb exclaim : "This 
young volunteer is no ordinary man." 

Three weeks had now passed away, and as the enlistment of 
many of the troops would soon expire. General Montgomery de- 
termined without further loss of time to attem2)t to carry Quebec 
by escalade. One third of the force was to set fire to the stock- 
ades and houses of the lower town, while the main body should 
scale the bastion or walls of Cape Diamond. It was a hazardous 
and daring project. He caused ladders to be made and exercised 
his men in using them. Captain Burr at his own request was as- 
signed the command of a forlorn hope of forty men, whom he com- 

*Jyifo of John Lamb. . 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 229 

menced to drill, until tliey got so perfect they could mount the 
ladders, although burdened with equipments, with great agility. 

The attack as agreed upon was to take place at night and in a 
heavy snow storm. By the 20th of December the preparations 
were all completed, and nightly did the sentinels Avatch the sky 
for the expected storm which was to be the signal of the attack^ 
The weather was intensely cold, and the small-pox still very bad 
in the camp ; the array numbering but seven hundred and fifty 
men fit for active service. The plan of attack was to be as follows : 
Colonel Livingston was to make a false attack on the gate of St. 
Johns, and set fire to it ; Major Brown with a small force was to 
menace the bastion of Cape Diamond ; Arnold with three hundred 
and fifty men of his wilderness army, and Captain Lamb with forty 
of his men were to assault the batteries of St. Roque ; while Gen. 
Montgomery with the balance of the army were to pass below 
Cape Diamond, march along the river, carry the defences at Drum- 
mond's wharf, and enter the lower town on one side, while Arnold 
entered it on the other side. These movements at all four points 
were to take place at the same time. 

The last night but one of the year 1775, December 30th, had 
arrived ; a fine moon was shining over the snow and over the 
sleej)ing army of Montgomery. It was Montgomery's last night 
on earth ; his brave soul went out before the old year had expired. 
But clouds soon began to cover the moon, and at midnight a fierce 
blinding North-easterly snow storm set in. General Montgomery 
awoke, he saw the hour had come, and the troops were soon 
ordered under arras. Many of them awoke from their last sleep 
on earth, and the morrow found them in the sleep that knows no 
waking. Buit was at his commander's side carrying commands 
at intervals from the General. 

It was two o'clock of the morning of December Slst, 1775, that 
the lines were formed and inspected, and as before stated, divided 
into four parties of attack. At the head of the column through 
the blinding storm marched the tall form of General Montgomery, 



280 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

not heeding the remonstrances of Burr and other officers to spare 
himself. At 4 A. M. the divisions had reached the designated 
posts ; at 5 A. M. the signal of attack was given, and the army 
pressed on through the storm and ascended the heights. 

Colonel Livingston and Major Brown proceeded to make the 
feigned attacks against the upper town. The morning was dark 
and gloomy and the driving snow heat against the soldiers, but 
they marched on knee deep through the drifts. Captain Burr 
marched by the side of Montgomery, as they hunied along the 
bank of the St. Lawrence, to the defences under Cape Diamond. 
Arnold was at the same time advancing on the opposite side. 

General Montgomery passed a picket and block house, which 
was qiiickly deserted on his approach. He led his men in 
the dark towards the naiTOwest point under Cape Diamond, called 
Pres de Ville, where had been placed by the enemy a battery of 
three pounders. This post was in charge of a Captain of Canadian 
Militia, with thu-ty-two men and nine British seamen. On the 
river side was the precipice, and on the left rough crags of slate 
towering far above him. 

By some mistake Colonel Livingston failed to make the false 
attack on St. Johns gate, which was to have caused a division 
favorable to Arnold's attack on the suburb below. The feint of 
Major BroAvn met with better success, as he attacked the bastion 
of Cape Diamond and concealed the march of General Mont- 
gomery. 

The pass which Montgomery entered, and which was defended 
as above stated, was very formidable, a river on one side, the 
crags on the other, and filled with drifted ice and snow. Among 
the foremost of the troops were some of the New York regiment 
of Captain Cheeseman. General Montgomery in his eagerness to 
press forward was in advance of his men and cried out : "Forward, 
men of New York, you will not flinch when your General leads 
you on." The Canadians stationed there, taken so suddenly by 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 231 

surprise, threw down their arms and fled. Montgomery sprang 
forward, and with his own hands sawed down several posts of the 
stockade, making a breach sufficiently wide to admit three men 
abreast. He entered sword in hand, followed by his staff, Captain 
Cheeseman, Burr, and many of his men. The battery before them 
was silent ; the Canadians in their panic had scattered those in 
the rear also. Montgomery paused but for a moment to rally on 
the troops through the pass, when he called out : "Push on, my 
brave boys, Quebec is ours," and again pressed forward, but within 
forty paces of the battery a discharge of grape shot from a single 
cannon made fearful havoc. 

Some accounts state that the gunners had returned to the bat- 
tery, while others state that a sailor who had fled from his post, 
had returned to discover why the Americans had not advanced, 
and applied a match to the cannon. General Montgomery, Mc' 
Pherson, and Cheeseman, were killed on the spot. Montgomery 
fell forward in the snow — to rise no more. Every man in the 
front column was killed, except Captain Burr, and he was within 
six feet of the General when he fell. 

The rest of the column halted and wavered, and thus many 
minutes were lost ; the enemy returned to the block house and 
fired on the assailants, and the American retreat became a disor- 
derly flight. But Montgomery's faithful Aid-de-Camp, Burr, could 
not bear to leave the lifeless remains of his beloved General 
behind in his snowy shroud. Down the steep, over the snow 
and ice, his comrades were fleeing in panic. Burr fled not, at 
first, then lifting the heavy body of the General upon his shoulders 
ran with it down the gorge up to his knees in snow, the enemy 
following in his rear, but he reeled on Avith his heavy burden until 
the enemy approached so near that he Avas obliged to drop the 
General's body and run to save himself from capture. 

While this occurred on the Cape Diamond side, Arnold was lead- 
ing his men against the opposite side of the lower town along the 
suburb and street of St. Roque ; like Montgomery, he and twenty- 



232 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

five men took the advance. Captain Laml> and his battery of 
artillery came next, but owing to tlie great depth of the snow they 
could proceed but Avih one gun, which they had mounted on a 
sledge, then followed a company with ladders, and after them 
Morgan and his riflemen, and the main body in the rear. 

There was a battery on the wharf that commanded the narrow 
pass, up which they had to advance. This was to be attacked 
with their field piece and then scaled with the ladders, but the 
field piece became embedded in the snow drifts and was rendered 
useless. Arnold then led the advance against a place called 
Sault au Matelot, followed by Captain Morgan. They were in a 
narrow pass swept by a battery ; uj) this pass Arnold marched, 
cheering on his men, when a musket ball struck his leg and shat- 
tered the bone ; he fell in the snow, arose again to press forward, 
and with difficulty could be persuaded to be carried to the rear. 

Morgan then led the attack, and he was as daring as Arnold. 
He hurried onward and planted ladders against the breastworks, 
and mounting them fired upon the gunners within. The enemy 
fled leaving the battery in Morgan's possession; they took the 
Captain and thirty of his men prisoners. Morgan here made a 
short halt for the main body of his column to come up ; daylight 
was now beginning to dawn, and notliing had been heard from 
Montgomery. Morgan ran back and called out, through the storm, 
to his men to press forward. The second ban-ier was reached, they 
again applied the ladders ; the defense was brave and obstinate, 
but the defenders were driven from their guns and tlie battery 
gained. A grape shot carried away part of the cheek bone of 
Captain Lamb and he was borne away senseless. 

The two barriers being taken, the way to the lower town seemed 
open, but by this time the death of General Montgomery, and the 
retreat ot his force, had enabled the enemy to turn all attention in 
the direction of Morgan's force. General Carleton now sent a 
force out of the Palace gate, after Morgan had passed it, and cap- 
tured Dearborn and the guard, and cut off" the advanced party's 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 233 

retreat. Tiie main body hearing of Montgomery's death, gave all 
up as lost and retreated back to the camp, leaving the field pieces 
and mortars behind them. 

Morgan and his men were now surromided on all sides and 
obliged to take refuge in a stone house to be out of the enemy's 
heavy fire. They defended themselves out of the windows of the 
house until a cannon was brought to bear upon it, then hearing 
of Montgomery's death and expecting no aid from any quarter, 
they were compelled to surrender themselves prisoners of war. 
The American army retreated to within three miles of the town. 
Carleton contented himself with having secured the safety of Que- 
bec, and did not come out to attack them. He treated the prison- 
ers well, considering the "habitual severity of his temper." 

• 

The remains of the gallant Montgomery received a soldier's 
grave within the fortifications of Quebec, by the care of Cramhe, 
the Lieutenant-Governor, who had formerly known him. Well 
would it have been for Arnold, had he at that time shared the 
same grave with Montgomery, rather than live and stain his then 
bright name. 

General Schuyler, after these sad events, wrote General' "Wash- 
ington as follows: "I wish I had no occasion to send, my dear 
General, this melancholy account. My amiable friend, the gallant 
Montgomery, is no more ; the brave Arnold is wounded, and we 
have met with a severe check in an unsuccessful attempt upon 
Quebec. May Heaven be graciously pleased that the misfortune 
may terminate here ; I tremble for our people in Canada." 

The loss of the Americans at Cape Diamond and at Sault au 
Matelot, in killed and wounded, was about one hundred and sixty. 
The British loss was only twenty killed and wounded. The force 
that surrendered consisted of one Lieutenant-Colonel, two Majors, 
eight Captains, fifteen Lieutenants, one Adjutant, one Quartermas- 
ter, three hundi'ed and fifty rank and file, and forty-four ofiicers 

and soldiers Avho were wounded, making a total loss of four hundred 
30 



234 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

and twenty-six men. The prisoners were treated well. The offi- 
cers were imprisoned in the Seminary, the oldest college in Que- 
bec. Major Meigs was eent out for the baggage and clothing of 
prisoners, and all testified to the humanity of Carleton. 

As soon as the fighting had terminated, a search was made for 
the bodies of the slain. Thirteen were found buried in the snow, 
among them Montgomery's orderly sergeant terribly wounded but 
still alive. The sergeant could not bear to hear that his General 
was killed, and remained silent imtil he died, an hour after he was 
discovered. 

Montgomery was buried within a wall that surrounded a powder 
magazine near the ramparts, bounding on St. Louis Street, where it 
remained for forty-two years. General Montgomery had a Avatch 
in his pocket which Mrs. Montgomery was very desirous of obtain- 
ino-. She made her wishes known to Arnold, who sent word to 
Carleton that any sum would be paid for it. Carleton immediate- 
ly sent the watch to Ai-nold and refused anything in return. High 
upon the rocks at Cape Diamond, Alfred Hawkins, Esq., of Que- 
bec, has placed a board with this inscription : "Here Major-Gen- 
eral Montgomery fell, December 31st, 1775." 



i 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 235 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

JUDGE henry's eye witness ACCOUNT AFTER THE DEATH OF GENERAL 

MONTGOMERY. 

Judge Henry was one of the prisoners taken by the British at 
Quebec. His opportunities of information appear to have been 
excellent ; he was allowed to go out with several other prisoners 
to view the place where General Montgomery was slain ; he also 
gives in his naiTative of the campaign an account of the death of 
Montgomeiy different from many we have read. It is addressed 
to his childi'en, and the extract here given commences after his 
account of his own capture, which happened on the 31st of Decem- 
ber, 1775, when Montgomery fell. The reasons above stated have 
induced me to give it here, as all narratives are considered to be 
more reliable when given by soldiers or eye-witnesses, rather than 
by romantic history manufacturers. 

"General Montgomery had marched at the precise time stipulat- 
ed, and had arrived at his destined place of attack nearly about the 
time we attacked the first barrier. He was not one that would 
loiter. Colonel Campbell of the New York troo^is, a large, good- 
looking man, who was second in command of that party, and was 
deemed a veteran, accompanied the army to the assault ; his sta- 
tion was rearward. General Montgomery, with his aids, was at 



236 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

the point of the oolumn. It is impossible to give you a clear, fair 
and complete idea of the natm'e and situation of the place solely 
with the pen ; the pencil is required. As by the special permission 
of government, obtained by the good offices of Captain Prentis, in 
the manner following, Boyd, a few others and myself reviewed the 
causes of our disaster ; it is therefore in my powei*, so far as my 
abilities will permit, to give you a tolerable notion of the spot. 

"Cape Diamond nearly resembles the great jutting rock which 
is in the narrows at Hunter's falls on the Susquehanna. The rock 
at the latter place shoots out as steeply as that at Quebec, but by 
no means forms so great an angle on the margin of the river, but 
is more craggy. There is a stronger and more obvious difference 
in the comparison when you surmount the hills at St. Charles, on 
the St. Lawrence side, which, to the eye, are equally high and 
steep ; you are on Abraham's plains and see an extensive cham- 
paign country. The birds-eye view around Quebec bears a strik- 
ing conformity to the sites of Northumberland and Pittsburg, in 
Pennsylvania ; but the former is on a more gigantic scale, and 
each of the latter wants the steepness and cragginess of the back 
ground and depth of river. This detail is to instruct you in the 
geographical situation of Quebec ; and for the sole purpose of ex- 
plaining the manner of General Montgomery's death, and the 
reasons of our failure. From Wolfe's Cave there is a good beach 
down to and around Cape Diamond. The bulwarks of the city 
come to the edge of the hill above that place, thence down the side 
of the precipice, slantingly to the brink of the river. There was a 
stockade of strong posts, fifteen or twenty feet high, knit together 
by a stout railing at bottom and top Avith pins. This was no 
mean defence, and was at the distance of one hundi-ed yards from 
the point of rock. Within this palisade, and at a few yards from 
the very point itself, there was a like palisade, though it did not 
run so high up the hill. 

"Again, within Cape Diamond, and probably at a distance of 
fifty yards, there stood a block house, which seemed to take up 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 237 

tlie space between the foot of the hill and the precipitous bank of 
the river, leaving a cartway or passage on each side of it. When 
heights and distances are spoken of, you must recollect that the 
description of Cape Diamond and vicinity is merely that of the 
eye, made as it were running under the inspection of an officer. 
The re\^ew of the ground our army had acted upon, was accorded 
us as a particular favor. Even to have stepped the spaces, in a 
formal manner, would have been dishonorable, if not a species of 
treason. A block house, if well constnicted, is an admirable 
method of defence, which in the process of the war to our cost was 
fully experienced. In the instance now before us, (though the 
house was not built upon the most approved principles,) it was a 
formidable object. It was a square of perhaps forty or fifty feet. 
The large logs neatly squared were tightly bound together by dove- 
tail work. If not mistaken, the lower story contained loop holes 
for musketry, so narrow that those within could not be harmed 
from without ; tlie upper story had four or more port holes for 
cannon of large calibre. These guns were charged with grape or 
canister shot, and were pointed with exactness towards the ave- 
nue at Cape Diamond. The hero, Montgomery, came. The 
drowsy or drunken guard did not hear the sawing of the posts of 
the first palisade. Here, if not very eiToneous, four posts were 
sawed and thrown aside, so as to admit foiir men abreast. The 
column entered with a manly fortitude. Montgomery, accomjja- 
nied by his aids, McPherson and Cheeseman, advanced in front. 
Arriving at the second palisade, the General with his own hands 
sawed down two of the pickets in such a manner as to admit two 
men abreast. These sawed pickets were close under the hill and 
but a few yards from the very point of the rock, out of the view 
and fire of the enemy from the block house. Until our troops ad- 
vanced to the point no harm could ensue but by stones thrown 
from above. 

"Even now there had been but an imperfect discovery of the 
advancing of an enemy, and that only by the intoxicated guard. 
The guard fled ; the General advanced a few paces ; a drunken 



238 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

aoldier returned to his giin, swearing he would not forsake it While 
undischarged. This fact is related from the testimony of the 
guard on the morning of our caj^ture, some of these sailors being 
our guard. Applying the match, this single discharge deprived us 
of our excellent commander. Examining the spot, the officer Avho 
escorted us, professing to be one of those who first came to the 
place after the death of Montgomeiy, show^ed the position in 
which the General's body was found. It lay two paces from the 
brink of the river on the back, the arms extended. Cheeseman 
lay on the left, and McPherson on the I'ight, in a triangular posi- 
tion ; two other brave men lay near them. The ground above 
described was visited by an inquisitive eye, so that you may rely 
with some implicitness on the truth of the picture. As all danger 
from without had vanished, the government had not only permit- 
ted the mutilated palisades to remain without renewing the enclo- 
sure, but the very sticks sawed by the hand of our commander still 
lay strewed upon the spot. 

"Colonel Campbell, appalled by the death of our General, re- 
treated a little way from Cajie Diamond, out of reach of the can- 
non of the block house, and called a council of officers, who, it was 
said, justified his receding from the attack. By rushing on, as 
military duty required, and a brave man would have done so, the 
block house might have been occupied by a small number, and 
was unassailable from without but by cannon. From the block 
house to the center of the lower town, where we were, there was 
no obstacle to impede a force so powerful as that under Colonel 
Campbell. Cowardice, or a want of good will towards our cause, 
left us to our miserable fate. A junction, though we might not 
conquer the fortress, would enable us to make an honorable re- 
treat, though with the loss of many valuable lives. Campbell 
was forever afterward considered a poltroon for retreating and 
leaving the bodies of the Generals McPherson and Cheeseman to 
be devoured by dogs. The disgust caused among us as to Camp- 
bell was so great as to create the unchristian wish that he might 
be hanged. In that desultory period, though he was tried, he was 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 239 

.acquitted ; that was also the case of Colonel Enos, who deserted 
us on the Kennebec. There never were two men more worthy of 
punishment of the most exemplary kind." 

"On the 3d or ith of January, being as it were domesticated in 
the sergeant's mess, in the regulars, a file of men headed by an 
officer called to conduct me to the Seminary. Adhering to the 
advice of Colonel McDougal, the invitation was declined, though 
the hero, Morgan, had solicited this grace from Governor Carleton 
and had sent me a kind and pressing message. My reasons, which 
were explained to Morgan, in addition to the one already given, 
operated forcibly upon my mind ; having lost all my clothes in 
the wilderness, except those on my back, and those acquired by 
the provident and gratuitous spirit of General Montgomery, and 
having remained at our quarters and become a prey to the Avomen 
and invalids of the army, nothing remained fitting me to appear 
anywhere in company. Additionally, it had become a resolution, 
when leaving Lancaster, as my absence would go near to break 
the hearts of my parents, never to break upon my worthy father's 
purse. Dire necessity compelled me to rescind this resolution in 
part in the wilderness, but that circumstance made me the more de- 
termined to adhere to the resolve afterwards. Again my intimate 
friends were not in the Seminary. Steele was in the hospital, and 
Simpson, by previous command, on the charming Isle of Orleans, 
which from its fruitfuluess, had become as it were our storehouse. 
Add to all these reasons, it could not be said of the gentlemen 
in the Seminary, 'they are all my intimates,' except as to Captain 
Morgan and Lieutenant F, Nichols. 

"It was on this day that my heart was ready to burst with grief 
at viewing the funeral of our beloved General, Carleton had in 
our former wars with the French been the friend and fellow sol- 
dier of Montgomery, Though political opinion, perhaps ambition, 
or interest, had thrown these worthies on different sides of the 
great question, yet the former could not but honor the remains of 
his quondam friend. About noon the procession passed our 



240 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

quarters. It was most solemn. The coffin, covered Avitli a pall, 
surmounted by transverse swords, was borne by men. The regu- 
lar troops, particularly that fine body of men, the Seventh Regi- 
ment, with reversed arms and scai'fs on the left elbow, accom- 
panied the corpse to the grave. The funerals of the other officers, 
both friends and enemies, were performed this day. From many 
of us it drew tears of affection for the deceased, and speaking for 
myself, tears of greeting and thankfulness tOAvard General Carle- 
ton. The soldiers and inhabitants appeared affected by the loss 
of this invaluable man, though he was their enemy. McPherson, 
Cheeseman, Hendricks and Humphreys, were all dignified by the 
manner of burial." 

General Montgomery was alike beloved by his men, and honor- 
ed by his foes. His personal appearance was fine ; tall, well-form- 
ed and commanding, full of enthusiasm and daring, he was a per 
feet specimen of a Military Chieftain. He was but thirty nine 
years of age when he fell at Quebec. Had he and Arnold not 
been shot so early in the fight, the fate of the day would certainly 
have been chanored. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 241 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

MONTGOMERY PLACE. • 

Janet Livingston Montgomery was overwhelmed with grief at 
the loss of her husband, but she bore this great affliction with that 
resignation to a Divine power which only the Christian can feel. 
She now resolved to devote her time to the improvement of the 
estate purchased by the General near Barrytown, N. Y., before he 
left on his northern campaign. Here she erected a fine mansion, 
and spent over half a century of widowhood, childless but cheer- 
ful. Some of her winters she spent in the city of New York. She 
had ample pecuniary means and good taste at command, the two 
needfuls in the successful improvement of a country estate. She 
named this fine estate of four hundred acres after her husband, 
"Montgomery Place." I will give a part of Downing's description 
of this delightful rural home. It is well told and describes the 
place very accurately : 

"There are few persons among what may be called the traveling 
class who know the beauty of the finest American country seat, 
Montgomery Place, second as it is to no seat in America for its 
combination of attractions. It is one of the superb old seats be- 
longing to the Livingston family. Whether the charm lies in the 

deep and mysterious wood, full of the echo of water spirits, that 
31 



242 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

forms the northern boundary, or whether it grows out of a profound 
feeling of completeness and perfection in foregrounds of old trees, 
and distances of calm serene mountains, we have not been able to 
divine ; but certain it is that there is a spell in the very air, which 
is fatal to the energies of a great speculation. It is not, we are 
sure, the spot for a man to plan campaigns of conquest, and we 
doubt even whether the scholar, whose ambition it is 'To scorn 
delights and live laborious days,' would not find something in the 
air of this demesne so soothing as to dampen the fire of his great 
purposes and disj^ose him to believe that there is more dignity in 
repose than merit in action. There is not wanting something of 
the charm of historical association here. The estate derives its 
name from General Montgomery, the hero and martyr of Quebec, 
(whose portrait, among other fine family pictures, adorns the walls 
of the mansion.) Mrs. Montgomery, after his lamented death on 
the heights of Abraham, resided here during the remainder of her 
life. At her death she bequeathed it to her brother, the Hon. 
Edward Livingston, our late Minister to France. Here this dis- 
tinguished diplomatist and jurist passed in elegant retirement the 
leisure intervals of a life largely devoted to the service of the 
State, and here still reside his family, whose greatest pleasure 
seems to be to add, if possible, every year some admirable improve- 
ment, or elicit some ncAv charm of its extraordinary natural beau- 

ty. 

"The age of Montgomery Place heightens its interest in no or- 
dinary degree. Its richness of foliage, both in natural Avood and 
planted trees, is one of its marked features. Indeed so gi*eat is 
the variety and intricacy of scenery caused by the leafy woods, 
thickets and bosquets, that one may pass days and even weeks 
here and not thoroughly explore all its fine points. A large part 
of the four hundi-ed acres is devoted to pleasure grounds and or- 
namental purposes. The ever varied surface afibrds the finest 
scope for the numerous roads, drives and walks Avith which it 
abounds. Even its natural boundaries are admirable. On the 
West is the Hudson, broken by islands into an outline unusually 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 243 

varied and picturesque. On the North it is separated from An- 
nandale, the adjoining seat, by a wooded valley, in the depths of 
which runs a broad stream, rich in waterfalls. On the South is a 
rich oak wood, in the centre of which is a private drive. On the 
East it touches the post road ; here is the entrance gate, and from 
it leads a long and stately avenue of trees, like the approach to an 
old French chateau. Half way up its length the lines of planted 
trees give place to a tall wood, and this again is succeeded by the 
lawn, which opens in all its stately dignity, with increased effect, 
after the deeper shadows of this vestibule-like wood. 

"The eye is now caught at once by the fine specimens of hem- 
lock, lime, ash and fir, whose proud heads and large trunks form 
the finest possible accessories to a large and spacious mansion, 
Vv'hich is one of the best specimens of our Manor houses. Built 
many years ago, in the most substantial manner, the edifice has 
been retouched and somewhat enlarged within a few years, and is 
at present both commodious and architectural in its character. 
Without going into any details of the interior, we may call atten- 
tion to the unique effect of the pavilion, thirty feet wide, which 
forms the north wing of this house. To attempt to describe the 
scenery which bewitches the eye as it wanders over the wide ex- 
pause to the west from this pavilion, would be but an idle effort 
to make words express what even the pencil of the painter often 
fails to copy. 

"As a foreground, imagine a large lawn, waving in undulations 
of soft verdure, varied with fine groups and margined with rich 
belts of foliage. Its base is washed by the river, which is here a 
broad sheet of water, lying like a long lake beneath the eye ; 
wooded banks stretch along its margin ; its bosom is studded 
with islands which are set like emeralds on its j)ale blue waters. 
On the opposite shores, more than a mile distant, is seen a rich 
mingling of woods and corn fields. But the crowning glory of 
the landscape is the background of mountains. The Kaatskills, 
as seen from this part of the Hudson, are, it seems to us, more 



244 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

beautiful than aiiy mountain scenery in the middle States. It is 
not merely that their outline is bold, and that tlie summit of 
Round-top, rising three thousand feet above the surrounding coun 
try, gives an air of more grandeur than is usually seen, even in the 
Highlands, but it is the color which renders the Kaatskills so cap- 
tivating a feature in the landscape here. Never harsh or cold, like 
some of our finest hills, nature seems to delight in casting a veil 
of the softest azure over these mountains, immortalized by the 
historian of Kip Van Winkle. 

"Morning and noon the shade only varies from softer to deeper 
blue. But the hour of sunset is the magical time for the fantasies 
of the color-genii of these mountains. Seen at this period from 
the terrace of the pavilion of Montgomery Place, the eye is filled 
with wonder at the various dyes that bathe the receding hills, the 
most distant of which are twenty or thirty miles away. Azure, 
purple, violet, pale grayish lilac, and the dim liazy line of tlie most 
distant cloud-rift, are all seen distinct, yet blendhig magically into 
each other in these receding hills. It is a sj^ectacle of rare beauty, 
and he wlio loves tones of color, soft and dreamy, as one of the 
mystical airs of a German Maestro, should see the sunset fade into 
twilight from the seats on this part of the Hudson. 

"On this place is a morning walk along the river bank, a wil- 
derness or wood in which are the falls or cataract, over a rocky 
precipice forty feet in depth, a lake above the falls with an island 
in it, a splendid flower garden, an extensive drive, and an arbore- 
tum on a fine site in the pleasure grounds, set apart and thorough- 
ly prepared for the purpose. 

"Here is a scientific arrangement of all the most beautiful hardy 
trees and shrubs, which will interest the student, who looks upon 
the vegetable kingdom with a more curious eye than the ordinary 
observer. The whole extent of the private roads and walks within 
the precincts of Montgomery Place is between five and six miles. 
The remarkable natural beauty which it embraces has been elicited 
and heightened everywhere in a tasteful and judicious manner. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 245 

There are numberless lessons here for the landscape gardener ; 
there are a hundred points that will delight the artist ; there are 
meditative walks and a thousand suggestive aspects of nature for 
the poet ; and the man of the world, engaged in a feverish pursuit 
of its gold and its glitter, may here taste something of the beauty 
and refinement of rural life in its highest aspect, and be able 
afterwards understandingly to wish that 

"One fair asylum from the world he knew, 
One chosen seat, that charms the various vicAV ; 
Who boasts of more, (believe the serious strain,) 
Sighs for a home, and sighs, alas ! in vain. 
Through each he roves, the tenant of a day, 
And with the swallow wings the year away." 



246 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XXXY. 

LETTERS AND PRIVATE LIFE OF MRS. MONTGO^IEUY. 

In the quiet lioiue life of Mrs. Montgomery, on her beautiful 
place, she would comfort herself in her lonely hours by writing to 
her numerous friends, and these letters, expressive of her thoughts 
and feelings, have deep interest. Mrs. Warren, widow of Major 
General Joseph Warren, who Avas killed in the battle of Bunker 
Hill, writes thus to Mrs. Montgomery, November 25th, 1777, 
nearly two years after the death of the General at Quebec : "The 
sensibility of soul, the pathos of grief, so strongly marked in your 
letters, have convinced me that the brave Montgomery had a part 
ner worthy of his character." To the letter from which the above 
extract was taken, Mrs. Montgomery wi'ote in reply as follows, to 
Mrs. Warren : 

"My Dear Madam : — The sympathy that is expressed in every 
feature of your letter claims from me the warmest acknowledg- 
ments, and the professions of friendship from one who so gener- 
ously feels and melts at the Avoes of a stranger, not only soothe 
but flatter me. It is very kind of you, Madam, to seek for allevi- 
ating consolations in a calamity, (though of so much glory.) I 
thank God, I feel part of their force, and it is owing to such affec- 
tionate friends as you that have lightened the load of misery. As 
a wife, I must ever mourn the loss of the husband, friend and 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 247 

lover ; of a thousand virtues, of all domestic bliss, the idol of my 
warmest affections, and, in one word, my very dream of happiness. 
But with America I Aveep the still greater loss of the firm soldier, 
and the friend to freedom. Let me repeat his last words when we 
parted : "You shall never blush for your Montgomery." Nobly 
has he kept his Avord, but how are my sorrows heightened ! Me- 
thinks I am like the poor widow in the Gospel, who having given 
her mite sits down quite desolate. Yet would I endeavor to look 
forward to the goal with hope ; and though the path is no longer 
strewed with flowers, trust to the sustaining hand of friendship 
to lead me safely through ; and in assisting me to rise superior to 
my misfortunes, make me content to drag out the remainder of 
life, till the Being who has deprived me of husband and fiither, 
will kindly close the melancholy scene, and once more unite me 
to them in a world of peace, where the tyrant shall no more wan- 
tonly shed the blood of his innocent subjects, and where virtue 
and vice shall receive then- due reward." 

All Mrs. Montgomery's letters to Mrs. Warren dwell on her 
irreparable loss, breathing a deep sorrow in every line, and a de- 
votion to the memory of her soldier husband. She writes Novem- 
ber 20th, 1780 : "I have been inteiTupted by another alarm of the 
enemy's being in full march for Saratoga, and the poor, harassed 
Militia are again called upon. My impatient spirit pants for 
peace, when shall the unfortunate individual have the gloomy sat- 
isfaction of weeping alone for his own particular losses. In this 
luckless state woes follow woes, every moment is big with some- 
thing fatal ; we hold our lives and fortunes on the most precarious 
tenure. Had Arnold's plan taken place, we could not have escap- 
ed from a fate di'eadful in thought ; for these polished Britons 
have proved themselves fertile in inventions to procrastinate (pro- 
tract) misery." 

Another letter of Mrs. Montgomery's, written in 1780, so agree- 
ably describes the beautiful Mrs. John Jay, the daughter of the 
Hon. William Livingston, Governor of New Jersey, that we will 



248 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

here give a short extract from it : "You speak of my dear friend 
Mrs. Jay ; we have heard from her at Ilispaniola, wliere she was 
obliged to put in after the storm in whicli slie had like to be taken. 
When slie arrives from Paris I expect to hear from her. If in the 
descriptive way, it shall be entirely at your service. She is one 
of the most wortliy women I know, has a great fund of knowledge 
and makes use of most charming language ; added to this, she is 
very handsome, which will secure her a welcome with the un- 
thinking, whilst her understanding will gain her the hearts of the 
most worthy. Her manners will do honor to our countrywomen, 
and I really believe will please even at the splendid court of Ma- 
drid. * * * ^ * -pj^Q starting tear and the heaving 
sigh interrupt my thread. Strange that self will forever discover 
itself. I find I am to learn much before I become a philosopher ; 
but in every instance of my life, I hope you, my dear Madam, will 
ever find me your sincere friend and humble servant," 

"JANET MONTGOMERY." 

The following letters were lately published in Dawson's Histor- 
ical Magazine, one written by Mrs. Montgomery to Mrs. Tappan, 
and the other to her little son : 

"There is no pleasure equal to hearijig, my dear little friend, of 
the improvement you and all those who are called after General 
Montgomery make in their learning, and I will please myself that 
they will all strive to be good and great men. I shall always be 
happy to hear how you go on, and Avill take an opportunity of 
sending you some books that may give you a fondness for reading. 
In the meantime beg you to make my comj^liments to your mama 
and your sisters, and wish you to believe me 
"Your affectionate friend, 

"JANET MONTGOMERY." 

Nkw Yokk, April, 178-1. 

[Addressed] 

MoNTGOMEUY Tappen, Esq., Poughkecpsie. 



i 



"Madam : — To attempt to give consolation on an occasion so 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 249 

recent, and so fatal, where the most promising hopes are at once 
so cruelly blasted — where death has snatched to an untimely grave 
your only son — were an attempt far beyond my abilities was I less 
a mourner than I really am. My dear Madam, I feel very sensibly 
your loss, and if the silent tear and the sighing heart would share 
yom" pains, you should not, believe me, want these to console you. 

"I had when I left town purposed to purchase him some books 
which I had promised, and which I in my hurry forgot. I several 
times made myself reproaches for this neglect, and fully intended 
writing for them this fall — but alas ! his wants from us are now 
past. We may weep, but he is happy in the bosom of a father 
who supplies all his wants ; and if so why do we still weep 1 or 
do we envy him his happiness "? 

"When we reflect on the pains, the disappointments, the mortifi- 
cations that the happiest are subject to in this world of care, why 
should you regret he has escaped from them all to become an heir 
of glory ? Time, and reflections like these, will, I trust, be your 
comforters. 

"God is just — He tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. I am one 
that speaks from a knowledge of His goodness — ^tried in the fur- 
nace of affliction by the loss of a Father and a Husband — which 
were the two strongest tyes of my life ; yet did He not permit me 
to sink under the weight of my woes, but bid me look forward to 
the high reputation they had left behind, and to the hour of death 
with the sweetest hopes. 

"I close this with commending you to His care, and with assur- 
ing you that I shall ever remember with pleasm*e the attention you 
have shown for my husband's memoiy. 

"My compliments to Mr. Tappen. 

"I am, dear Madam, yoiu' friend and humble S't. 

"J. MONTGOMERY." 

"Clermont, Nov. 24, 1784. 

Mrs. T.vppen." 
32 



250 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

She went to Dublin, Ireland, with one of her nephews to visit 
her husband's family residing in Dublin, and she writes from there 
home : "When I return home I hope to find my dear country, for 
which I have bled, the envy of her enemies and the glory of her 
patriots." 

The Marquis de Lafayette, an intimate friend of Mrs. Montgom- 
ery, and much at her house, when in America, during the war, 
writes to her from Paris, February 22d, 1786, from which letter 
the following extracts are made : 

"I not to retm-n to America, Madam ! I do assure you this idea 
would render me most miserable. To sever me from this fond 
hope would be half death to me. If born in France, I have been 
educated in America. So many friends there ; so many recollec- 
tions at every step ! This year I am not able to go, but the year 
after this I hope I shall, as I Avant to plan a visit before the time 
when I shall bring my son over to spend three years on your hap- 
py side of the Atlantic. He has been a citizen of the United 
States, and he must go and learn on what principles he can de- 
serve the flattering gratification. Be so kind, dear Madam, as to 
present my best and most affectionate respects to the ladies and 
youth of your beloved family. I feel as if I was one of them. 
Remember me often to them and let my name be now and then 
pronounced in the family conversation. I heaitily feel for John's 
misfortunes which, added to an irreparable loss, must be too heavy 
indeed. I think a voyage with you will do him good, and I hope, 
as Madame de Lafayette takes the liberty to entreat you with me, 
that your intended excursion to Eiu'ope mayn't be deferred." 

Mrs. Montgomery's nephew, Lewis, son of Edward Livingston, 
wrote to her from Bagnores, in August, the summer that he was 
traveling for his health in Europe, as follows: "I dined Avith the 
Marquis de Marbois, a few days before I left Paris. He could 
hardly recover his sm-prise upon my presenting him a letter from 
the widow of General Montgomery. He begged me to assm'c you 
of his gratitude for your recollection of him, and added that he 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR, 251 

would himself express to you his feelings by the fii'st opportunity 
that offered. I must not omit mentioning, either, the compliment 
the Count de la Forest paid you. Hearing I was from New York, 
he accosted me in a salon, where we both spent the evening, and 
made many enquiries respecting his old acquaintances, and among 
others asked whether I knew Mrs. Montgomery, describing her as 
"une femme de beaucoup d'esprit et d'agremen's." Do not accuse 
me of wishing to flatter you ; I but repeat the truth." 

Mrs. Montgomery Avas a woman of rare intellectual attainments 
and vigor of language in conversation. It is related of her that 
"after entertaining a guest of the heavy sort all day, she expressed 
relief at his departure in an audible sigh. One of her neices said 
to her, "Why, Aunt, you have not much patience with dull peo- 
ple." "Ah, no, my dear," she answered, "I have never been used 
to them." She did not confine her reading to works of fiction, 
which is the case with too many at the present day, but read all 
the old classics and historical works, being well versed in Rollin, 
Gibbon, and such standard authors. When she became advanced 
in age her sight almost entirely failed. She then employed a wo- 
man, Mrs. Griifith by name, to read to her. Mrs. Grifiith after- 
wards stated it was almost impossible to find a book that she had 
not previously read, so thoroughly had she stored her mind, evi- • 
dently believing with Marie Antoinette, "What a resom'ce amid 
the calamities of life is a highly cultivated mind." 

Mrs. Montgomery* spent many of her winters in New York. 
Mrs. Ellet, in her "Queens of American Society," thus writes of 
New York society in those old times : "A ball was given at the 
Assembly Rooms on the east side of Broadway, above Wall street, 
(New York was then the Capital,) on the 7th May, 1789, to cele- 
brate the Inauguration. The members of Congress and their 
families were present, with the Ministers of France and Spain, 
distinguished Generals of the Army, and persons eminent in the 
State. Among the most noted ladies were Mrs. Jay, Mrs. Hamil- 

*Hunt'8 Life of Edward LiviDgston. 



252 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

ton and Mrs. Montgomery, the widow of the hero of Quebec. A 
specialty at this ball was the presentation by the committee, to each 
lady, of a fan made in Paris, the ivory frame containing a medal- 
lion portrait of Washington in profile. These fans were presented 
to the ladies as each conple passed the receiver of tickets. It was 
of this ball that an account was published by Jefferson, in his 
'Ana* upon insufiicient authority. 'Washington danced in two 
cotillions and a minuet.' Colonel Stone, in describing this ball, 
says : 'Few jewels were then worn in the United States, but in 
other respects the costumes were rich and beautiful, according to 
the fashions of the day. One favorite dress was a plain celestial 
blue satin gown, with a Avhite satin petticoat. On the neck was 
worn a very large Italian gauze handkerchief, with border stripes 
of satin. The head dress was a puff of gauze in the form of a 
globe, the head-piece of which was composed of white satin, hav- 
ing a double Aving in large plaits, and trimmed witli a wreath of 
artificial roses, foiling from the left at the top, to the riglit at the 
bottom in front, the reverse behind. The hair was dressed all 
over in detached curls, four of Avhich, in two ranks, fell on each 
side of the neck, and were relieved behind by a floating chignon. 
Some of the ladies wore hats of white satin, with plumes and 
cockades. A j^lain gauze handkerchief, sometimes striped with 
satin, was worn on the neck, the ends tied under the bodice.' 

"The principal ladies of New York, at the time the Republican 
Court was established there, were Mrs. George Clinton, Mrs. 
Montgomery, Lady Stirling, Lady Kitty Duer, Lady Mary Watts, 
Lady Temple, Lady Christiana Grifiin, the Marchioness de Brehan, 
Madame de la Forest, Mrs. John Langdon, Mrs. Tristram Dalton, 
Mrs. Knox, Mrs. Robert R. Livingston, of Clermont, the Misses Liv- 
ingston, Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Gerry, Mrs. McComb, Mrs. Edgar, 
Mrs. Lynch, Mrs. Houston, Mrs. Provost, IMi-s. Beekman, the 
Misses Bayard, &g. Washington, after his wife's arrival, had a 
grand inaugural dinner, to which all members of the best society 
in New York were invited, and two days afterwards Mrs. Wash- 
ington held her first levee, at which full dress was required of all." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 253 

We now change to a more sad scene. In 1818 a request in be- 
half of Mrs. Montgomery was made to the Governor-in-Chief of 
Canada, Sir John Sherbrooke, to allow the remains of General 
Montgomery to be disinterred and removed to New York. This 
request was acceded to, and Mr. James Thompson, of Quebec, 
who was one of the Engineers at the time of the storming of the 
city, and who helped to bury the General, assisted in the disinter- 
ment, making an affidavit to the identity of the body. He stated 
in his affidavit that the body was taken to the house of Mr. 
Gobert and placed in a coffin lined with flannel, and covered with 
black cloth ; that Rev. Mr. Montmolin, chaplain to the garrison, 
performed the funeral service ; that Montgomery's aids (McPherson 
and Cheeseman,) were buried in their clothes without coffins ; and 
that he (Thompson) afterwards Avore Montgomery's sword, but the 
American prisoners were so affected by the sight of it that he laid 
it aside. He identified the coffin, taken up on June 16th, 1818, 
as the one in which General Montgomery was buried. 

Governor DeWitt Clinton, in conformity to an act passed by 
the Legislature of New York at its previous session, to send to 
Quebec to remove General Montgomery's remains to New York, 
commissioned Lewis Livingston, Hon. Edward Livingston's son, 
to proceed to Whitehall to receive the remains and attend to hav- 
ing it carried to New York in a proper manner. He received the 
appointment of Colonel, as the following letter to his father will 
show : "So much for the General ; now a word for myself The 
inhabitants of Whitehall, who, with the prophetic spirit of the 
witches in Macbeth, had, as I have already informed you, hailed 
me Colonel, gave me, as the event turned out, the title I had a 
claim to. The Adjutant-General, on his arrival, showed me the 
general order which had been issued, in which the name of Colo- 
nel Livingston stood prominent, and explained the mystery by pre- 
senting me a Colonel's commission — which the Governor was 
pleased to call a reward for my good conduct. If other grades are 
to be obtained at so easy a rate as this, I do not despair of one day 
becoming a Major-General ; and to say the truth, the honor that 



254 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

has been conferred on me I would willingly have dispensed 
with. I have felt so ashamed in opening letters directed to the 
Colonel that I think I could go to Quebec to un-Colonel myself." 

It was on the 29th of June that Governor Clinton wrote to Mrs. 
Montgomery to inform her that the remains of the General were 
at Whitehall, and had been received with honors there, and that a 
military escort would accompany the remains to Albany. It ar- 
rived there on Saturday, July 4th, and lay in state in the Capitol 
until Monday, when it was taken to New York, attended by a mil- 
itary escort, in the steamboat Richmond. 

The Governor had written Mrs. Montgomery about what hour 
' the boat would pass her residence at Montgomery Place on the 
Hudson. She had lived with the General but three yeai's, and it 
was forty years since he had given her the parting kiss at the resi- 
dence of General Schuyler, at Saratoga, before starting on his 
campaign. She stood alone, under the front portico of her house, 
at the appointed hour, watching for the expected boat. The boat 
appeared in sight and stopped for a minute in front of her resi- 
dence, whilst the band on board played the "Dead March." A 
salute was fired, and then the boat proceeded on her way. Her 
friends and servants now looked for her ; she had been so over- 
come by her emotions that she had fallen to the floor in a swoon. 
"Her soldier" had gone forth a man in the vigor and prime of life, 
and naught was returned to her but his ashes. 

His name is still honored among us, and even in the hurry and 
bustle of Broadway the passer by will often stop to read the in- 
scription on his monument, in front of St. Paul's chapel, which 
was erected to his memory in 1776, by the Continental Congress, 
and beneath which his remains were deposited in 1818, with mili- 
tary honors. The monument bears this inscription : 

"This monument is erected by order of Congress, January 25th, 
177G, to transmit to posterity a grateful remembrance of the patri- 
otism, conduct, enterprise and perseverance of Major-General Rich- 
ard Montgomery, who, after a seiies of successes in the midst of 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 255 

the most discouraging difficulties, fell in the attack on Quebec, 
31st December, 1775." 

To those whose eyes have not beheld this memorial, we may de- 
scribe it as a sculpture, composed of helmet, shield and sword, par- 
tially covered with laurel. Although this monument was ordered 
within a month after Montgomery's death, yet its erection was a 
matter of long delay. As no competent artist could be found in 
America at that time it was executed in Paris two years afterward ; 
no doubt under the direction of Benjamin Franklin, who then rep- 
resented the young Republic at the Bourbon Court. It is pecu- 
liarly French in its workmanship, and we believe it to be the only 
one of its kind in America. Having been brought over in some ship 
which escaped the blockading fleet, the completion of the work 
was delayed, by the presence in New York of the British troops, 
who held the city. After the evacuation the monument was 
placed in its present commanding position, and Montgomery was 
thus honored eight years after his death. 

After the removal of Montgomery's remains in 1818, the follow- 
ing inscription was placed upon the monument : 

"The State of New York caused the remains of Major-General 
Montgomery to be conveyed from Quebec and deposited beneath 
this monument the 8th of July, 1818." 

The reader of history will recall the fact that the ill success of 
this first invasion of Canada by our troops has never been retriev- 
ed in any subsequent attempt. Harrison, Scott and Van Rensse- 
lear failed to establish a foothold during the war of 1812, while 
General Pike fell at Toronto. 

Mrs. Montgomery died in the month of November, 1827, es- 
teemed and beloved by all who knew her. She bequeathed her 
beautiful country seat to her brother, Edward Livingston, as she 
left no children. She was a worthy sister of such men as Robert 
R. and Edward Livingston, and was well calculated^to bear the 
proud appellation of a "Lady of the Manor." 



256 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

MARGARET LIVINGSTON. 

The second daughter and third child of Judge Robert R. Liv- 
ingston, Margaret, was born at Clermont, Columbia County, N. 
Y., on January 6th, 1749. She was the young lady before alluded 
to that was knitting the stocking when the news of Burgoyne's 
surrender was so joyfully announced at Clermont. She was a 
woman of fine poetical talent and of much humor. She mamed 
Dr. Thomas Tillotson, (Surgeon-General of the United States 
Army and Secretary of the State of New York,) in February, 1779, 
She died in 1823, at Rhinebeck, leaving several children, 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 257 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



CATHARINE LIVINGSTON. 



The third daughter of Judge Robert R. Livingston, Catharine, 
was born at Clermont, the 14th of October, 1752. She was tall 
and graceful in person, animated in manners, and of fine mental 
powers. She had many admirers, but passed the period of middle 
life unmarried. She took a deep interest in the war for Independ- 
ence, and was always ready to converse, with a feeling of pride, 
on the part taken by her brother, the Chancellor, and her brother- 
in-law, General Montgomery, in that eventful war. She thus 
wrote to Mrs. General Warren in April, 1781 : 

* * * "The news from the southward is by no means so fa- 
vorable as the sanguine among us expected. Arnold, it is feared, 
will get off safely, as well as Cornwallis. I think the British un- 
derstand retreat better than we do pursuit. It has been an obser- 
vation, this war, whenever the expectations of the multitude were 
raised to almost a certainty of success, the event has turned direct- 
ly opposite to their views. This I believe we may extend to pri- 
vate as well as public concerns." 

Miss Livingston's brother-in-law, Mr. Tillotson, had invited the 

Rev. Freeborn Garrettson to preach at Rhinebeck, and he passed 

several weeks at his house. Miss Catharine Livingston was there 
33 



258 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

on a visit at the same time, and this friendship between them 
ended in maniage in 1793. 

Mr. Garrettson, after his marriage, settled at Rliinebeck, and 

lived in a stone house in that town. Six years after their marriage 

' they purchased a place near Rhinebeck Station, on tlie banks of 

the Hudson, erected a mansion thereon, and named this country 

seat "Wildercliff." 

Lossing, in his Book of the Hudson, thus writes of Mr. and Mrs. 
Garrettson : "Freeborn GaiTCttson was an eminent Methodist 
preacher, and a leader among the plain Methodists in the latter 
part of the last century, when that denomination was beginning to 
take fast hold upon the public mind in America, and his devoted, 
blameless life did much to commend his people to a public dis- 
posed to deride them. Mr. Garrettson left the church of England, 
in which he had been educated. The Methodists were despised 
in most places. He was a native of Maryland. Eminently con- 
scientious, he gave his slaves their freedom, and entering upon his 
ministry preached everywhere, on all occasions, and at all times, 
offending the wicked and delighting the good, and fearless of all 
men, having full faith in a Special Providence, and oftentimes ex- 
periencing proofs of the truth of the idea to which he clung. One 
example of his proofs may be cited. A mob seized him on one 
occasion, and were taking him to prison by order of a magistrate, 
when a flash of lightning dispersed them and they left him unmo- 
lested. In 1788 he was appointed Presiding Elder over the 
churches in the district extending from Long Island Sound to Lake 
Champlain, more than two hundred miles. One of his converts 
was the daughter of Judge Livingston, of Clermont, whom he 
married. Probably no house in the world has ever held within it 
so many Methodist preachers as this one at Wildercliff, from the 
most humble of weak vessels up to Bishop Asbury, and other dig- 
nitaries of the church ; for with ample means at command, the 
doors of Mr. Garrettson and his wife were ever open to all, espe- 
cially to their brethren in the ministry," 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 259 

Mrs. Garrettson wrote as follows in the year 1799 : "Our house 
being neai-ly finished, in October we moved into it, and the first 
night spent in fiimily prayer. While my blessed husband was ded 
icating it to the Lord the place was filled by His presence who, in 
the days of old, filled the temj)le with his glory. Every heart re- 
joiced and felt that God was with us of a truth. Such was our in- 
troduction into our new habitation, and had we not reason to say, 
with Joshua of old : 'As for me and my house, we will serve the 
Lord.' " 

Mrs. Olin, in her sketch of Mrs. Garrettson, in her work, "The 
Perfect Light," thus beautifully wiites of this home : "It was a 
home for the Lord's people ; strangers were welcomed as brethren, 
and many a weary itinerant has rested there as in the palace Beau- 
tiful. Relatives and friends came to this pleasant home year after 
year, and enjoyed delightful interchange of thought and feeling 
with christians of difiering denominations. 'I shall rejoice to see 
you,' wrote a lady to a niece of Mrs. Garrettson's, who looked upon 
her visits to Wildercliflf as pilgrimages to a pleasant land, 'I shall 
rejoice to see you with the beams of light that always cluster 
round you after a Rhinebeck sojourn.' How many who have en- 
joyed the genial hospitality of this house will recall the dignified 
form of its hostess, with her marked features, her soft, hazel eye, 
the brown haii", parted under the close fitting cap, with its crimped 
muslin border, the neatly fitting dress, always simple yet always 
becoming, well formed hands, the slender foot, with its pretty mo- 
rocco slipper," 

No one could for a moment imagine that this was the once gay 
young lady whose hand had been asked for in the dance by Gen- 
eral Washington. One of Mrs. Garretson's nieces had requested 
her to write something for her in her Album, to which she com- 
plied and wrote as follows. It shows the turn of her thoughts, 
which were, but for the one thing needful : 

"Rhinebeck, October 13th, 1835. 
"You wish, my dear, dear niece, some memorial of your aged 



260 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

friend, when slie shall have passed away into a world of si^irits ; 
and what interesting event of a long life can I look back upon with 
more heartfelt pleasure than the one which took place this day for- 
ty-eight years ago. Yes, my dear, on that blessed day God per- 
mitted me, in a transport of joy, to cry, 'Abba, Father ;' to know 
that my sins were washed away ; that I was adopted into the fam- 
ily of Heaven, through the great atonement made on Calvary. 
My life, since that period, has been croAvned with blessings from 
the upper and the nether springs, and I look forward with bright- 
ening hopes to a day when the light of life shall shine with such 
commanding influence on our earth that blind eyes shall see, deaf 
ears hear, and hard hearts melt, and one universal voice of praise 
ascend up like incense to the great white throne of God. Thou- 
sands and tens of thousands are lifting up the daily cry, 'Come, 
Lord Jesus, come quickly ;' the voice is gone up, 'Thy kingdom 
come,' uttered by every new-born soul, and he who taught us thus 
to pray will not be slow to answer. The time is drawing on, the 
great work is progressing, let us hasten it by our prayers and by 
all the influence of a life devoted to the service of God, can give. 
The door of usefulness is open Avide, the demand for laborers is 
imperious. There is a loud call for the exertion of every talent ; 
the whole world is to be regenerated ; liapj^y they who shall be 
honored with any employment in this work ; 'they shall be like a 
tree planted by the rivers, that bringing forth his fruit in his sea- 
son, his leaf shall not wither ;' his eyes shall be clearer than the 
noonday, he shall shine forth, he shall be as the morning. Exert 
every talent God has given you for his glory, and you will find, 
sooner or later, a rich reward. May you, my dear, be ever guided 
by the good spirit to will and do all that is required of you, and 
hereafter inherit the rich reward of 'Well done, good and faithful 
servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' " 

Nearly all her sisters and brothers died before she closed hci' 
happy life. She was beside the dying beds of both her brothers, 
the Chancellor, Robert R., and Edward Livingston, heard their 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 261 

last words, and witnessed their tnist in their Saviour, in wliom, 
alone, they looked for the life beyond the grave. 

Mr. Garrettson was seized with a sudden illness at the house of a 
friend of his in New York, in the year 1827, which illness was fol- 
lowed by death. Mrs. GaiTetson in the month of July, 1849, then 
in her 97th year, went to visit her sister-in-law, Mrs. Edward 
Livingston, at Montgomery Place, and on the way there stopped 
at her brother's, Mr. John R. Livingston's place, near BaiTytown. 
She had not felt veiy well when she left home, and upon her ar- 
rival at Montgomery Place was suddenly taken ill. Medical aid 
proved of no avail, and the 14th of July, 1849, was her last day on 
eai'th. 

When death shut out the forms of those she loved Avho stood 
beside her bed, she cried out, with eyes upturned and hands 
clasped, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly," and then clapping her 
hands together she died with these words on her lips : "He comes, 
He comes." Before her death it yearly had been the custom of all 
the members of the family to visit her on her birth-day, when she 
presided at the head of the table. This happy renewal of friend- 
ship and love was kept up for many years, and I well remember 
hearing one of her nieces speak with pleasure of the good health 
of her aunt at one of those love feasts, a few days after one had 
taken place. 



262 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

GERTRUDE LIVINGSTON. 

The fourth daughter and seventh child of Judge Robert R. Liv 
ingston, Gertrude, was born at Clermont, Columbia County, N. Y., 
on the 16th of April, 1757, and on the 11th of May, 1779, was 
married to General Morgan Lewis, afterwards Governor of the 
State of New York. Theii- home was a fine country seat on the 
banks of the Hudson, at Staatsburgh. It was at this place that 
the Marquis de Lafayette passed a morning, in 1824, when on his 
way up the river to visit Robert L. Livingston, at Clermont. 

Morgan Lewis was in the battle of Stillwater, and witnessed the 
surrender of Burgoyne. He then held the commission of Quarter- 
master in the army. Major-General Wilkinson, Gates' Adjutant- 
General, writes, in his memories of the battle, that "no general 
field officer was on the field of battle during the day," intimating 
that he himself chiefly conducted affairs. He also writes : "When 
towards evening, Gates and Arnold were together in front of the 
camp, Major Lewis came in from the scene of action and an- 
nounced that the battle was still undecisive, when Ai-nold ex- 
claimed, 'I will soon put au end to it,' and rode off at full gallop 
and gained the day." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 263 

In October, 1780, Morgan Lewis, then a Colonel under General 
Van Rensselaer, led the van of the attack against Johnson and 
Brant with their forces of Indians, and defeated them, on the 
banks of the Mohawk river, at the battle called Klock's field. 

In January, 1791, Aaron Burr, who had been Attorney General, 
was elected to represent the State of New York in the Senate of 
the United States. Dr. Hammond, in his History of Political Par- 
ties of the State of New York, writes, that "Morgan Lewis, a con- 
nection of the Livingston's, succeeded Bun* as Attorney-General, 
and suggests that this may have been foreseen at the time of the 
election." 

General Lewis was afterwards Chief Justice, and nominated for 
Governor of the State of New York against Aaron Burr. Gener- 
al Lewis was supported by the Livingston's and Clinton's, and re- 
ceived 35,000 votes, and Aaron Burr received 28,000 votes, leaving 
a majority in General Lewis' favor of 7,000 votes, a large majority. 

Genei'al Lewis may be said to have been the founder of the 
Common School system of the State ; he was President of the So- 
ciety of Cincinnati from 1838 up to the time of his death in 1844, 
when he was in the 90th year of his age. His wife died many 
yeai'S before him, in April, 1833. 



26-4 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

JOANNA LIVINGSTON. 

The filtli daughter and eighth child of Judge Robert R. Liv- 
ingston, Joanna, was born at Livingston Manor, Clermont, N. Y., 
the 14th of September, 1759. She was a woman of much strength 
of character, yet very gentle and amiable in her manners. She was 
married to Peter R. Livingston, well known in the political annals 
of this State both as a Democrat and a Whig. In 1839, or about 
that time, many will remember how his eloquence, though his 
frame was then quivering Avith age, made the multitude thrill, in 
old Masonic Hall, New York. 

The State of New York, about that period, had been for the first 
time able to recover from the storm of Jacksonism, and this re- 
covery of the great Empire State so inspired the Whigs of the 
Union, that they visited New York, in delegations of congi'atula- 
tion. Old Peter R. Livingston was the orator who welcomed 
them, and the welcome he gave them was worthy the inspiration 
of the victory, and of the then great occasion. 

His uncle, Peter R. Livingston, eldest son of Robert, the third 
Lord of the Manor of Livingston, who man-ied Mary Tong, was, 
during the Revolution, President of the Provincial Congress, 
seated at Fishkill and Esopus. Peter R, Livingston lived the 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 265 

greater part of his life at his country seat near Rhinebeck. It is 
on this place that the willow tree planted by General Montgomery 
a few days before he left on his Northern campaign, can be seen. 

Joanna Livingston died in February, 1827. Singular to relate, 
all of Judge Livingston's daughters niamed distinguished men. 
Writes Mrs. Montgomery of a family dinner party : "Never was a 
table so surrounded." All these sisters were ardent politicians, and 
women of more than ordinary ability, and followed with interest 
and intelligent appreciation the public labors of their brothers and 
husbands. 



266 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XL. 



ALIDA LIVINGSTON. 



The sixth daughter and ninth child of Judge Robert R. Livings- 
ton, Alida, was born at Clermont, N. Y., on Christmas eve, 
December 24th, 1761. She was married on the 19th of January, 
1789, to General John Armstrong, who was a Captain at sixteen, 
a Major at eighteen, a Colonel at twenty. Secretary to the Council 
at Philadelphia at twenty-two, and also Secretary of State of 
Pennsylvania, and in Congress, and a General when twenty-five 
years of age. He was Minister to France during the latter part of 
Mr. Jefferson's administration, and Secretary of War under James 
Madison, when Washington was captured by the British in our 
second war with England. 

In 1777 Washington received intelligence that the enemy were 
landing in Elk river, at the end of Chesapeake Bay, from the fleet 
under General Howe ; this was seventy miles from Philadelphia. 
Every attempt was made to check them ; the divisions of Generals 
Greene and Stephens that were within a few miles of Wilmington 
received orders to march forward immediately. Major John Ann- 
strong, who now commanded the Pennsylvania militia, was urged 
to send down at night all the men he could gather, properly armed. 
34 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 267 

On the 8th of September, 1777, Major Armstrong was stationed 
about a mile and a half below the main body of the army to pro- 
tect the lower fords of the river Brandy wine, which extended in 
front of the whole line and divided the American from the British 
armies. The American army was defeated at the battle of Brandy - 
wine and retreated to Germantown, near Philadelphia, but were 
not pursued. General Washington left the Pennsylvania militia 
in Philadelphia to guard that city, and other regiments under 
General Armstrong were posted at the various passes of the 
Schuylkill, with orders to throw up earth works. All the boats 
were collected and taken over the river to places][of safety. 

Thomas Wharton, Governor of Pennsylvania, on the 17th of 
October received the following earnest appeal from General Wash- 
ington to keep up the quota of troops demanded of the State by 
Congress, and to furnish additional aid. "I assure you sir," writes 
he, "it is a matter of astonishment to every pait of the continent 
to hear that Pennsylvania, the most opulent and populous of all 
the States, has but twelve hundred militia in the field at a time 
when the enemy are endeavoring to make themselves completely 
masters of, and to fix their quarters in her capital." 

Major-General Armstrong, commanding the Pennsylvania 
militia, writes at the same time to the Council of his State : "Be 
not deceived with wrong notions of General Washington's num- 
bers ; be assured he wants your aid. Let the brave step forth ; 
their example will animate the many. You all speak well of our 
Commander-in-Chief at a distance ; don't you want to see him 
and pay him one generous, one martial visit, when kindly invited 
to his camp, near the end of a long campaign. Then you will see 
for yourselves the unremitting zeal and toils of all the day and half 
the night, multiplied into years, without seeing house or home of 
his own, without murmur or complaint ; but believes and calls this 
arduous task the service of his country and of his God." 

In 1782 the headquarters of Washington was at Newburgh, on 
the Hiidson ; he lived there in a stone house, which is still stand- 



2G8 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

ing. Here occurred events most painful to Wasliington, and a 
blur upon the life of General Armstrong, whicli we would willing- 
ly pass over, but our duty in stating facts compels us to relate. 
The soldiers of the army at Newburgh became very discontented, 
respecting the arrearages of pay, past and future, and in the Spring 
of 1782 this feeling spread alarmingly in the camp. 

Complaints were frequently sent to General Washington through 
Colonel Nicola. In May Colonel Nicola wrote a letter to Wash- 
ington, the tenor of which affected him very deeply. After writ- 
ing of the destitution of the army, and the poor hopes the soldiers 
had of receiving their pay from Congress, and after AVi'iting further 
upon different forms of government, he concluded by stating that 
in his opinion no republic could ever stand, that the English gov- 
ernment was the nearest to perfection, and that if the people 
would properly consider matters they would all arrive at the same 
conclusion, and adopt it. 

He further added that "in this case it will, I believe, be uncon- 
troverted, that the same abilities which have led us through diffi- 
culties apparently insm-mountable by human power, to victory and 
glory, those qualities that have merited and obtained the universal 
esteem and veneration of an army, would be most likely to con- 
duct and direct us in the smoother paths of peace. Some people 
have so connected the idea of tyranny and monarchy, as to find it 
very difficult to separate them. It may, therefore, be requisite to 
give the head of such a constitution, as I propose, some title 
apparently more moderate, but if all other were once adjusted, I 
believe strong arguments might be produced for admitting the 
title of King, which I conceive would be attended with some 
national advantage." 

But how much he and others mistook the character of the great 
Washington may be inferred from the severe and well deserved 
rebuke which the Commander in-Chief gave them in his answer, 
as follows : 

. "Sir : — With a mixture of great surprise and astonishment I 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 269 

have read, with attention, the sentiments you have submitted to 
my perusal. Be assiu'ed, Sir, no occurrence in the course of this 
war has given me more painful sensations than your information 
of there being such ideas existing in the'army as you have express- 
ed, and which I must view with abhorrence, and reprehend with 
severity. For the present the communication of them will rest in 
my own bosom, unless some further agitation of the matter shall 
make a disclosure necessary. I am much at a loss to conceive 
what part of my conduct could have given encouragement to an 
address which, to me, seems big with the greatest mischiefs that 
can befall my country. If I am not deceived in the knowledge of 
myself you could not have found a person to whom your schemes 
are more disagi'eeable. At the same time, in justice to my own 
feelings, I must add that no man possesses a more serious wish to 
see ample justice done to the army than I do ; and as fiir as my 
power and influence, in a constitutional way, extend, they shall be 
employed to the utmost of my abilities to effect it, should there be 
any occasion. Let me conjure you, then, if you have any regard 
for your country, concern for yourself, or posterity, or respect for 
me, to banish these thoughts from your mind and never communi- 
cate, as from yourself or any one else, a sentiment of the like 
nature. GEORGE WASHINGTON." 

If the above did not show the true patriotism of Washington, 
what event in his life did more so ? What a temptation to an am- 
bitious man to make himself King. Had he been for self and not 
for his country, and had the ambition of the First Consul of 
France, where now would have been our Republic? 

Congress was still making but feeble efforts to pay off the army 
and allay the discontents of the soldiers. A plan was arranged 
among a few officers at Newburgh to draw up a series of resolu- 
tions whicli, in the hands of a committee, would furnish new and 
powerful levers of operations to arouse Congress to a sense of its 
duty. It was at this time that General Gates' Aid-de-Camp, Gen- 
eral John Armstrong, a young officer of only twenty-six years of 



270 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

age, and of much ability, was selected to write an address to the 
army, to be circulated anonymously and privately, calculated to 
make a deep impression upon the minds of the discontented 
soldiery. 

The first anonymous paper appeared in the camp on the 10th 
of March, 1783, calling a meeting at eleven o'clock the next day, of 
the general and field officers, of an officer from each company, and 
a delegate from the medical staff; to consider a letter received 
from their representatives in Philadelphia, and what measures 
should be adopted to obtain redress for all their grievances. 

On the next morning another anonymous address was privately 
circulated. It professed to be from a fellow-soldier "who liad 
shared in their toils and mingled in their dangers," and who till 
very lately had believed in the justice of his coimtry. "After a 
pursuit of seven long years," observed he, "the object for which 
we set out is at length brouglit Avithin our reach. Yes, my friends, 
that suffering courage of yours was active once ; it has conducted 
the United States of America through a doubtful and bloody war ; 
it has placed her in the chair of independency, and peace returns 
to bless — whom ? a country willing to redress your wrongs, cherish 
your worth, and reward your services ; a country courting your 
return to private life with tears of gratitude and smiles of admira- 
tion, longing to divide with you that independency which your 
gallantry has given, and those riches which your wounds have 
preserved ! Is this the case ? or is it rather a country that tram- 
ples upon your rights, disdains your cries, and insults your dis- 
tresses ? Have you not more than once suggested your wishes, 
and made known your wants to Congress — wants and wishes 
which gratitude and policy should have anticipated rather than 
evaded ; and have you not lately, in the meek language of entreat- 
ing memorials, begged from their justice, what you could no longer 
expect from their favor 1 How have you been answered ? Let 
the letter which you ai"e called to consider to-morrow make reply. 
If this then be your treatment while the swords you wear are 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 271 

necessary for the defence of America, what have you to expect 
from peace, when your voice shall sink and your strength dissipate 
by division ; when those very swords, the instruments and com- 
panions of your glory, shall be taken from your sides, and no re- 
maining mark of military distinction left but yom' wants, infirmi- 
ties and scars ? 

"Can you then consent to be the only sufferers by this revolution, 
and retiring from the field, grow old in poverty, wretchedness and 
contempt? Can you]^consent to wade through the vile mire of 
dependency, and owe the miserable remnant of that life to charity, 
which has hitherto been spent in honor? If you can, go, and carry 
with you the jest of Tories, and the scorn of Whigs ; the ridicule 
and what is worse, the pity of the world. Go starve and be for- 
gotten ! But if your spirits should revolt at this ; if you have 
sense enough to discover, and spirit sufficient to oi)j)ose tyranny, 
under whatever garb it may assume, whether it be the plain coat 
of Republicanism, or the splendid robe of royalty ; if you have 
yet learned to discriminate between a people and a cause, between 
men and principles ; awake, attend to your situation, and redress 
yourselves ! If the present moment be lost, every future effort is 
in vain ; and your threats then will be as empty as your entreaties 
now. 

"I would advise you, therefore, to come to some final opinion 
upon what you can bear, and what you will suffer. If your deter- 
mination be in any proportion to your wrongs, carry your appeal 
from the justice to the fears of government, change the milk-and- 
water style of your last memorial ; assume a bolder tone, decent, 
but lively, spirited and determined ; and suspect the man who 
would advise to more moderation and longer forbearance. Let 
two or three men who can feel as well as write be apj)ointed to 
di'aw up your last remonstrance, for I would no longer give it the 
suing, soft, unsuccessful epithet of memorial. Let it represent in 
language that will neither dishonor you by its rudeness, nor betray 
you by its fears, what has been promised by Congress, and Avhat 



272 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

has been performed ; how long and how patiently you have suf- 
fered ; how little you have asked, and hoAV much of that little has 
been denied. Tell them that though you were the first, and 
would wish to be the last to encounter danger, though despair 
itself can never drive you into dishonor, it may drive you from the 
field ; that the wound often irritated and never healed may at 
length become incurable ; and that the slightest mark of indignity 
from Congress now, must operate like the grave and part you for- 
ever ; that in any political event the army has its alternative. 

"If peace, that nothing shall separate you from your arms but 
death ; if war, that courting the auspices and inviting the direction 
of your illustrious leader, you will retire to some tmsettled country 
smile in your tm'n and mock when their fear cometh on ! But let 
it represent, also, that should they comply with the request of 
your late memorial, it would make you more happy and them more 
respectable ; that while war should continue you would follow 
their standard into the shade of private life, and give the world 
another subject of wonder and applause ; an army victorious over 
its enemies, victorious over itself" 

General Washington noticed the above papers with his iisual 
characteristic firmness and caution. In his general orders he ex- 
pressed that he placed confidence in the good sense of his under 
officers in order to prevent, if possible, their paying much regard 
to the paper that had been circulated in camp, which he pronounc- 
ed as disorderly and irregular. 

The following day the second anonymous paper was circulated 
throughout the camp, as follows : 

"Till now the Commander-in-Chief has regarded the steps you 
have taken for redress with good wishes alone ; his ostensible 
silence has authorized your meetings, and his private opinions 
sanctified your claims. Had he disliked the object in view, would 
not the same sense of duty which forbade you from meeting on 
the third day of the week, have forbidden you from meeting on the 
seventh ? Is not the same subject held up to your view ; and has 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 273 

it not passed the seal of office and taken all the solemnity of an 
order "? This will give system to yom* proceedings and stability to 
your resolves," &c., &g. 

On Satm'day, March 15th, 1783, a meeting of officers took place. 
General Gates was called to the chair. General Washington rose 
and ai^ologized for being present at the meeting, but the diligent 
mannei" in Avhich anonymous writing had been circulated rendered 
it absolutely necessary that he should give his sentiments to the 
army on the nature and bad effects of such papers. He then pro- 
ceeded to read with deep feeling an address, previous to which, 
however, he put on his spectacles and said : "I have not only 
grown gray, but blind in your service ;" (which remark, under the 
circumstances, had a powerful effect upon the assemblage.) He 
then read as follows : 

"Gentlemen, by an anonymous summons an attempt has been 
made to convene you together ; how inconsistent with the rules 
of propriety, how unmilitary, and how subversive of all order and 
discipline, let the good sense of the army decide. In the moment 
of this summons another anonymous production was sent into cir- 
culation, addressed more to the feelings and passions than to the 
reason and judgment of the army. The author of the piece is 
entitled to much credit for the goodness of his pen, and I could 
wish he had as much credit for the rectitude of his heart, for as 
men see through different optics and are induced by the reflecting 
faculties of the mind to use different means to attain the same end, 
the author of the address should have had more charity than to 
mark for suspicion the man who should recommend moderation 
and longer forbearance ; or in other words, who should not think 
as he thinks, and act as he advises. But he had another plan in 
view in which candor and liberality of sentiment, regard to justice, 
and love of country, have no part ; and he was right to insinuate 
the darkest suspicion to effect the blackest design. That the 
address is drawn with great art, and is designed to answer the 

most insidious pm-poses ; that it is calculated to impress the mind 
35 



274 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

with an idea of premeditated injustice in the sovereign power of 
the United States, and rouse all those resentments which must 
unavoidably flow from such a belief ; that the secret mover of this 
scheme, whoever he may be, intended to take advantage of the 
passions while they were warmed by the recollection of past dis- 
tresses, without giving time for cool, deliberate thinking, and that 
composure of mind which is so necessary to give dignity and sta- 
bility to measures, is rendered too obvious by the mode of conduct- 
ing the business to need other proofs than a reference to the 
proceedings. 

"Thus much, gentlemen, I have thought it incumbent on me to 
observe to you, to show upon what principles I opposed the in-egu- 
lar and hasty meeting which was proposed to have been held on 
Tuesday last, and not because I wanted a disposition to give you 
every opportunity, consistent with your own honor and the dignity 
of the army, to make known your grievances. If my conduct 
heretofore has not evinced to you that I have been a faithful friend 
to the army, my declaration of it, at this time, would be equally 
unavailing and improper. But as I was among the first who 
embarked in the cause of our common country ; as I have never 
left your side one moment, but when called from you on public 
duty ; as I have been the constant companion and witness of your 
distresses, and not among the last to feel and acknowledge your 
merits ; as I have ever considered my own military reputation as 
inseparably connected with that of the army ; as my heart has ever 
expanded with joy when I have heard its praises, and my indigna- 
tion has arisen when the mouth of detraction has been opened 
against it, it can scarcely be Supposed at this last stage of the war 
that I am indifferent to its interests. But how are they to be 
promoted ? 

"The way is plain, says the anonymous addresser. 'If war con- 
tinues, remove into the unsettled country, there establish yourselves 
and leave an ungrateful country to defend itself But who are 
tliey to defend ? Our wives and cliildren, our farms and otlier 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 275 

property which we leave behind us ; or in this state of hostile 
separation are we to take the two first, (the latter cannot be re- 
moved,) to perish in a wilderness with hvmger, cold and naked- 
ness. If peace takes place, 'never sheathe your swords', says he, 
'until you have obtained full and ample justice.' This dreadful 
alternative of either deserting oiu' country in the extremest hour 
of her distress, or turning our arms against it, which is the appar- 
ent object, unless CongTcss can be compelled into instant compli- 
ance, has something so shocking in it that humanity revolts at the 
idea. My God ! what can this writer have in view by recommend- 
ing such measures ? Can he be a friend to the army ? Can he be 
a friend to this country ? Rather is he not an insidious foe ! 
Some emissary, perhaps from New York, plotting the ruin of both 
by sowing the seeds ot discord and separation between the civil 
and military powers of the Continent ; and what a compliment 
does he pay to our understandings, when he recommends measures 
in either alternative impracticable in their natm'e. But here, 
gentlemen, I will drop the curtain, because it would be as impru- 
dent in me to assign ray reasons for this opinion, as it would be 
i nsulting to your conception to suppose you stood in need of them. 

"A moment's reflection will convince every dispassionate mind 
of the physical impossibility of carrying either proposal into exe- 
cution. There might, gentlemen, be an impropriety in my taking 
notice in this address to you of an anonymous production ; but the 
manner in which that performance has been introduced to the 
army ; the effect it was intended to have, together with some other 
circumstances, will amj^ly justify my observations on the tendency 
of that writing. With respect to the advice given by the author 
to suspect the man who shall recommend moderate measures and 
longer forbearance, I spurn it, as every man who regards that 
liberty and reveres that justice for which we contend, undoubted 
ly must ; for if men are to be precluded from offering their senti- 
ments on a matter which may involve the most serious and alarm- 
ing consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind^ 
reason is no use to us. The freedom of speech may be taken 



276 CLERMONT, O^LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

away, and dumb and silent we may be led as sheep to the slaugh- 
ter. I cannot in justice to my own belief, and what I have great 
reason to conceive is the intention of Congress, conclude this 
address, without giving it as my decided opinion that that honor- 
able body entertains exalted sentiments of the services of the army, 
and from a full conviction of its merits and suiFerings will do it 
complete justice ; that their endeavors to discover and establish 
funds for this purpose have been unwearied and will not cease till 
they have succeeded. I have not a doubt, but like all other large 
bodies, where there is a variety of different interests to reconcile, 
their determinations are slow. Why, then, should we distrust 
them, and in consequence of that distrust adopt measures which 
may cast a shade over that glory which has been so justly acquired, 
and tarnish the reputation of an army which is celebrated through 
all Europe for its fortitude and patriotism ? And for what is this 
done ; to bring the object we seek nearer 1 No ! Most certainly, 
in my opinion, it will cast it at a greater distance. 

"For myself, (and I take no merit in giving the assurance, 
being induced to it from principles of gratitude, veracity and jus- 
tice, a grateful sense of the confidence you have ever placed in me,) 
a recollection of the cheerful assistance and prompt obedience I 
have experienced from you under every vicissitude of fortune, 
and the sincere affection I feel for an army I have so long had the 
lionor to command, will oblige me to declare in this public and 
solemn manner, that in the attainment of complete justice for all 
your toils and dangers, and in the gratification of every wish so far 
>as may be done consistently with the great duty I owe my country, 
and those powers we are bound to respect, you may freely com- 
mand my services to the utmost extent of my abilities, while I 
give you these assurances and pledge myself, in the most unequiv- 
ocal manner, to exert whatever ability I am possessed of in your 
fixvor. Let me entreat you, gentlemen, on your part, not to take 
any measures, which, viewed in the calm light of reason, will lessen 
the dignity and sully the glory you have hitherto maintained. 
Let me request you to rely on the plighted faith of your country, 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 277 

aud place a full confidence in the purity of the intentions of Con- 
gress, that, previous to your dissolution, as an army, they will 
cause all your accounts to be fairly liquidated, as directed in the 
resolutions which were published to you two days ago, and that 
they will adopt the most efiectual measures in their power to ren- 
der ample justice to you for your faithful and meritorious services ; 
and let me conjure you in the name of our common country, as 
you value your own sacred honor, as you respect the rights of 
humanity, and as you regard the military and national character of 
America, to express your utmost horror and detestation of the man 
who wishes, under any specious pretenses, to overturn the liberties 
of our country, and who wickedly attempts to open the flood gates 
of civil discord and deluge our rising Empire in blood.* By thus 
determining and thus acting you will pursue the plain and direct 
road to the attainment of your wishes ; you will defeat the insidi- 
ous designs of our enemies, who are compelled to resort from open 
force to secret artifice ; you will give one more distinguished proof 
of unexampled patriotism and patient virtue, rising superior to the 
pressure of the most complicated sufferings ; and you will, by the 
dignity of your conduct, afford occasion for posterity to say, when 
speaking of the glorious example you have exhibited to mankind, 
had this day been wanting, the world had never seen the last 
stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining." 

When Washington had finished reading this beautiful patriotic 
address he retired without uttering a word, leaving the officers 
together to talk calmly the whole matter over. Their delibera- 
tions were short, and they at once drew up and passed resolutions 
by a unanimous vote, one of which thanked their Commander 
in-Chief for his good part in the matter, and for his able address, 
and also expressed their unabated and undying love for his person 
and willingness to put their faith in Congress, and to wait the 
deliberations of that body. One of the resolutions was as follows : 

"Resolved, unanimously, that the officers of the American army 
*Je£f. Davis and the conapirators of 1861 to 1865. 



278 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

view with abhorrence, and reject with disdain, the infamous propo- 
sitions contained in a late anonymous address to the officei"s of the 
army, and resent with indignation the secret attempts of some un- 
knoAvn person to collect the officers together in a manner totally 
subversive of all discipline and good order." 

It was in the old building still standing, at Newburgh, that 
Washington wrote his addi'ess to the officers, and here also he 
wrote his circular letter addressed to the Governors of all the 
States on the disbanding of the army. This letter, -vmtes Sparks, 
"Is remarkable for its ability, the deep interest it manifests for the 
officers and soldiers who had fought the battles of their country, 
the soundness of its principles, and the wisdom of its counsels. 
Four great points he aims to enforce, as essential in guiding the 
deliberations of every public body, and as claiming the serious 
attention of every citizen, namely : an indissoluble union of the 
States ; a sacred regard to public justice ; the adoption of a pi'oper 
military peace establishment ; and a pacific and friendly disposition 
among the people of the States, which should induce them to 
forget local prejudices and incline them to mutual concessions for 
the advantage of the community. 

"These he calls the pillars by which alone independence and na- 
tional character can be supported. On each of these topics lie 
remarks at considerable length with a felicity of style and cogen- 
cy of reasoning in all respects worthy of the subject. No public 
address could have been better adapted to^the state of the times ; 
and coming from such a som'ce, its influence on the minds of the 
people must have been effectual and most salutary." 

Major Shaw, who was present at Newburgh when Wasliington 
read his address to the officers, thus writes of him : "Happy for 
America that she has a patriot army, and equally so that Washing- 
ton is its leader. I rejoice in the opportunities I have had of see- 
ing this great man in a variety of situations ; calm and intrepid 
when the battle raged ; patient and persevering under the pressure 
of misfortune ; moderate and possessing himself in the full career 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 279 

of victory. Great as these qualifications deservedly render him, 
he never appeared to me more truly so than at the assembly we 
have been speaking of. On other occasions he had been support- 
ed by the exertions of an army and the countenance of his friends, 
but on this he stood single and alone. There was no saying where 
the passions of an army, which were not a little inflamed, might 
lead ; but it was generally alloAved that further forbearance was 
dangerous, and moderation had ceased to be a virtue. Under 
these circumstances he appeared, not at the head of his troops, 
but as it were in opposition to them ; and for a dreadful moment 
the interests of the army and its General seemed to be in competi- 
tion. He sj^oke ; every doubt was expelled, and the tide of patri- 
otism rolled again in its wonted course. Illustrious man — what 
he says of the army may with equal iustice be applied to his own 
character : Had this day been Avanting, the world had never seen 
the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of 
attaining." 

General Knox drew up a series, of resolutions, which Avere sec- 
onded by General Putnam, requesting General Washington to 
write to the President of Congress, entreating a speedy decision 
on the late address, and forwarded by a committee of the army. 
Washington accordingly Avrote as follows : 

"The result of the proceedings of the grand convention of ofli- 
cers, which I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency, for 
the inspection of Congress, will, I flatter myself, be considered as 
the last glorious proof of patriotism which could have been given 
by men who aspired to the distinction of a patriot army, and will 
not only confirm their claim to the justice, but will increase their 
title to the gratitude of their country. Having seen the proceed- 
ings on the part of the army terminate with perfect unanimity, and 
in a manner entirely consonant to my wishes ; being impressed 
with the liveliest sentiments of afiection for those who have so 
long, so patiently and so cheerfully sufiered and fought under my 
immediate direction ; having, from motives of justice, duty and 



280 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

gratitude spontaneously oiFevecl myself as an advocate for theii- 
rights ; and having been i-equested to write to yom* Excellency, 
earnestly entreating the most speedy decision of Congi-ess upon 
the subject of the late address from the army to that honora-ble 
body ; it only remains for me to perform the task I have assumed 
and to intercede on their behalf, as I now do, that the Sovereign 
power will be pleased to verily the predictions I have pronounced 
and the confidence the army have reposed in the justice of their 
country. If beside the simple payment of their wages, a further 
compensation is not due to the sufferings and sacrifices of the ofli- 
cers, then have I been mistaken indeed. If the whole army have 
not merited what a grateful people can bestow, then have I been 
beguiled by prejudice and built opinions on the basis of error. If 
this country should not, in tlie event, perform everything which 
has been requested in the late memorial to Congress, then will my 
belief become vain, and the hope that has been excited void of 
loundation ; and if ; as has been suggested, for the purpose of in- 
flaming their passions, the ofiicers of the army are to be the only 
sufierers by the revolution ; if retiring from the field they are to 
grow old in poverty, wretchedness and contempt ; if they are to 
wade through the vile mire of dependency, and owe the miserable 
remnant of that life to cliarity, which has hitherto been spent in 
honor ; then shall I have learned what ingratitude is, tlicn shall I 
have realized a tale which will embitter every moment of my 
future life. But I am under no such apprehensions. A country 
rescued by their arms, from impending ruin, will never leave 
unpaid the debt of gratitude." 

The letter to the President was accompanied by other letters to 
members of Congress, all making similar, direct, and eloquent 
appeals. The subject was again taken up in Congress, nine States 
concurred in a resolution commuting the half pay into a sum equal 
to five years whole pay ; and the whole matter at one moment so 
fraught with danger to the republic, through the temperate wisdom 
of Washington was happily adjusted. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 281 

The anonymous addresses to the army, whicla were considered 
at the time so insidious and inflannnatory, and which certainly 
were ill-judged and dangerous, "have since been avowed by Gen- 
eral John.Ai'mstrong, a man who has sustained with great credit 
to himself various eminent posts under our government. At the 
time of Avriting them he was a young man, Aid-de-Camp of Gen- 
eral Gates, and he did it at the request of a number of his fellow- 
officers, indignant at the neglect of their just claims by Congress, 
and in the belief that the tardy movements of that body required 
the spur and the lash."* 

General John Armstrong was born at Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, 
on the 2oth of November, 1758. He was the youngest of two 
sons of General John Armstrong, of Carleton, distinguished for 
his services in the French and Indian war of 1756. When the 
revolution broke out young Armstrong was a student at Princeton 
College, and joined the army as a volunteer in Potter's Pennsyl- 
vania Regiment. He was afterwards Aid-de-Camp to General 
Hugh Mercer, and was at the battles of Brandywine and Prince- 
ton. At the latter General Mercer was killed. 

He held afterwards the same position in the army of General 
Gates, and served in the northern campaign which ended in the 
capture of Burgoyne. In 1780 he was appointed Adjutant-Gen- 
eral of the Southern army, but being taken very ill of a fever, on 
the river Pedee, was succeeded by Colonel Otho Williams, a few 
days before the defeat at Camden. He then resumed his old 
place as aid to General Gates, and remained with him until the 
close of the war. 

General Armstrong, like all the members of the ftimily mention- 
ed in this work, purchased a fine place on the banks of the Hud- 
son, between Rhinebeck and BarrytOAvn, which is now occupied 
by his daughter, Mrs. William B. Astor, and known by the name 
of Rokeby. It is a fine seat and has a most splendid avenue of 
trees extending from the public road up to the house. 

*Irving's Washington. 

36 



282 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

For forty years there was no certainty in tlie public inind who 
was the author of the anonymous NcAvburgh papers. Tliat Gene- 
ral Armstrong was generally suspected of being the author, among 
those who were well acquainted with his abilities, is very evident 
from a letter to him wiitten by Col. Thomas Pickering, in after 
years, in which he states that so certain was he at the time of the 
identity of the author that he endorsed a copy of the address, 
which he received, as follows : "Written by Major John Arm- 
strong, Jr." 

Lossing states "that an article appeared in the January number 
of the United States Magazine, for 1823, in which the author, 
understood to be General Armstrong, avowed himself the Avriter 
of the Newburgh address." 

It defends the cause of the writer, that tiie urgent necessity of 
tlie officers and soldiers of the army justified the act. Washing- 
ton's opinion of the motives of the writer may be gathered from a 
letter of his during his second term of Presidency, written to Gen- 
eral Armstrong about fourteen years after tlie above events li;id 
occurred. It was as follows : 

"Philadelphia, Febniary 23d, 1797. 
"Sin : — Believing that there may be times and occasions on 
Avhich my opinion of the anonymous letters and the author, as 
delivered to the army in the year 1783, may be turned to some 
personal and malignant purpose, I do hereby declare that I did 
not, at the time of writing my address, regard you as the author 
of said letters ; and further, that I have since had sufiicient reason 
for believing that the object of the author was just, lionorable and 
friendly to the country, though the means suggested by him were 
certainly liable to nmch misunderstanding and abuse. 
"I am. Sir, with great regard, 

"Your most obedient servant, 

"GEORGE AVASIIINGTON." 

General Armstrong's first civil appointment was that of Seci'c- 
tary of the State of Pennsylvania ; he was Adjutant-General under 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 283 

Dickenson's and Franklin's administrations, which he continued 
to occupy until 1787, when he was chosen a member of Congi-ese. 
In tlie fall of 1787 he was appointed by Congi'ess one of the 
Judges for the Western Territory ; this appointment he declined. 
He married in 1789, and in 1793 was oiFered by President "Wash- 
ington the place of United States Supervisor of the Collection of 
Internal Revenue in the State of New York. He declined this 
and other public offices until the year 1800, when he was elected 
by all almost unanimous vote of both houses of the Legislatm'e as 
United States Senator. Having resigned in 1802, he was again 
elected in 1803, and the next year was appointed by President 
Jefferson, Minister Plenipotentiary to France, which position he 
filled with ability for over six years, and discharged incidentally 
the functions of a separate mission to Spain, with which he was 
invested. 

lie commanded the army in the city of New York from 1812 to 
1813, when he was appointed by Mr. Madison as Secretary of War. 
This was in the midst of our second Avar with England. The cap- 
ture of the city of Washington, in 1814, led to his retirement from 
office. Many held him responsible for this misfortune, but without 
justice in so doing. 

General Armstrong died at his residence at Rhinebeck, N. Y., 
on the 1st of April, 1843, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. He 
was among the remarkable men of a remarkable generation. He 
left the folloAving productions of his pen : a voluminous correspon- 
dence, diplomatic and military, a valuable treatise on Agriculture, 
Notices of the Avar of 1812, and several Biographies. 

His Avife, Alida Livingston, died upon her fifty-ninth birth day, 
December 24th, 1822, many years before her husband. We will 
all agree that General Armstrong Avas a distinguished man, and 
although he made one sad mistake, or error, in his life, he AA'as at 
the time but a young man, and men often do deeds in early man- 
hood that riper years and more mature judgment and reflection 
Avould have prevented. Lut Ave Avill pasg over this one mistake in 



284 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

his life, and praise him for the good that he hath done, "and let 
that good live after him." 

With this sketch we close with the last member of Judge Liv- 
ingston's immediate family, a family that any father might feel 
proud of, both in sons and daughters. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 285 



CHAPTER XLI. 



PHILIP LIVINGSTON. 



Robert and Alicia Livingston, the grandparents of Philip Liv- 
ingston, had five sons and four daughters. Two sons and two of 
his daughters died unmarried. The three married sons were 
Philip, Robert and Gilbert. Philip was born in 1686. His son 
Philip Livingston Avas born at Albany, State of New York, on the 
loth of January, 1716. His father was the second Lord of the 
Manor of Livingston, and inherited all the manorial property and 
offices, except thirteen thousand acres of land known as the Manor 
of Clermont, or southern part of the large Manor tract, which was 
left to Robert. 

Philip Livingston graduated at Yale College, Connecticut, in 
1737, and entered mercantile life in the city of New York, where 
he met with success, and Avas in 1754 elected a member of the 
board of Aldermen, and a member of the Colonial Convention at 
Albany ; he was elected a delegate to Congress in 1774, also a 
member of the Congresses of 1775-6, and a signer of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, on that eventful day of our country's his- 
tory, at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, July 4th, 1776. 



*286 CLERMONT, OK LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

After the final adoption of the Constitution of his native State, 
he was a member of the board of Treasury of Congi-ess, and of the 
Marine Committee. lie was a member of the Senate, and again 
elected to Congress in 1778, where he received the tlianks of that 
body for his long and ftxithful services. 

When Mr. Livingston resided at Albany he lived next to the 
corner of State and Pearl Streets, and the elm tree (yet standing 
on the corner of Pearl and State Streets,) was planted by him 
about one hundred years ago. It was then merely a twig ; and it 
is said that Mr. Livingston severely rebuked a young sailor, one 
morning, who was about to cut it down for a switch or a cane. 
To tlie Albanians, in the heats of Summer, that now noble tree 
forms a gi'ateful monument to the memory of its planter, and more 
truly valued than would be the costliest pile of brass or marble. 

Mr. Livingston died while attending Congress, at York, Penn- 
sylvania, of dropsy in the chest, on the twelfth day of June, 1778, 
not quite two years after he had declared his country free and 
independent, in the sixty-second year of his age. Ilis monument 
at York, Pennsylvania, bears the following inscription : 

"sacked to the memory of the 
HONORABLE PHILIP LIVINGSTON, 

WHO 1>IEI) 

Jlne 12Tn, 1778, Aged G2 Years, 

While attending the Congress of the United States, at York, 
Pennsylvania, as a Delegate from the State of New York. 

Eminently distinguished for his talents and rectitude he 
deservedly enjoyed the coniidencc of his country, and the love and 
veneration of his friends and children. 

Tliis momunent is erected by his grandson, Stei)lien Van 
Keiisselaer." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVIXOSTON MANOR. 287 



CHAPTER XLII. 

SARAH LIVINGSTON. 

Sarah Livingston was the sister of Philip, signer of the Declara 
tion of Independence, and of Wilham, Governor of New Jersey, 
and daughter of the second proprietor of the Manor. Slie Avas 
born at her father's residence, at Albany, N. Y., in 1722, and was 
brought up in the communion of the Dutch Reformed Church, of 
which she continued an earnest member until her death, at the 
advanced age of eighty-two. Possessed naturally of a strong mind 
she preserved her mental faculties unimpaired to the last, and 
found in her religious faith consolation for the reverses of fortune 
she experienced in the closing years of her life. 

Of the mere competency left for her support she always appro- 
priated a proportionally large part to charitable uses. She was 
man-ied in early life to Major-General Alexander, (Earl of Stirling.) 
She accompanied her husband to the camp, at White Plains, and 
from there paid a visit to New York, then in possession of the 
]5ritish. She was accompanied in this visit by her youngest 
daughter. Lady Catharine Alexander. This visit was made to her 
eldest daughter, who, with her husband, Mr. Robert Watts, liad 
romained quietly in the city, taking no active part with either side. 



288 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Tlie letters of both mother and daugliter are full of interest, as 
showing the situation and temper of those Americans who had 
remained in the city during its occupation by the enemy, and 
whom they met there in the course of their visit. Lady Catharine 
Alexander, (Earl of Stirling's) daughter was very beautiful and 
very much admired in socie<:y. She was afterwards married to 
Colonel William Duer, in 1770, at Baskenridge, New Jersey. 

She writes in August, 1778, before her marriage, from Pereip 
pany, the place where Governor William Livingston's family had 
taken refuge after an invasion of Elizabethtown by the British ; 
"she is sanguine in her hope of soon seeing her relatives, as zealous 
patriots as herself Mr. Watts, (her brother-in-law,) is among the 
number of those who are heartily sick of the tyranny witnessed, 
and as to Mary, her political principles are perfectly rebellious. 
The sentiments of a great number have undergone a thorough 
change since they have been with the British army. As they 
liave many opportunities of seeing flagrant acts of injustice and 
cruelty of which they could not have believed their friends capable, 
this convinces them that if they conquer we must live in abject 
slaveiy." 

Lady Stirling exhibits her disinterested patriotism by refusing 
to avail herself of the permission, sent from Sir Henry Clinton, to 
take anything she pleased out of the city, fearing there Avould bo 
a handle made of it if she accepted the offer. She writes : 

"The last time I saw him (Mr. Elliott,) he told me I must take 
a box of tea, but I stuck to my text." 

A letter of condolence of General Washington to Lady Stirling, 
upon her husband's death, has been preserved in the Historical 
Collections of New Jersey. 

Her husband, Avhose proper name was William Alexander, and 
entitled to an Earldom in Scotland, and generally called Lord 
Stirling, was born in the city of New York in 172G. He received 
an excellent education, and acted as Commissary in the French 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 289 

and Indian war ; was Aid-de-Camp, and finally Secretary to 
General Shirly, and accompanied the latter to England at the close 
of those wars to prosecute his Scotch claims, expending large 
sums of money in this effort. 

At the breaking ont of the American Revolution lie was sta- 
tioned at Boston, and from there one night fitted out a pilot boat, 
and from under the guns of the British ship of war, "Asia," cap- 
tured an English transjjort laden with stores, &c., for the enemy 
in Boston. He was made a Brigadier at the battle of Long 
Island, which he opened, and where he fought bravely, but being 
outnumbered by the enemy, and surrounded, was compelled to 
surrender, and was taken prisoner, but afterwards exchanged. He 
was with Washington at the battle of Brandy wine, in 1777, and 
at Germantown commanded the reserve. 

The next year he led one division of the army into battle at 
Monmouth, where he fought with such bravery as to astonish the 
British, and served all his guns Avith admirable skill. He was also 
in many other battles of the Revolution. He died in 1783, in the 
fifty-seventh year of his age, from a severe attack of the gout. 

Many fine and heavy pieces of old family silver once owned by 
the Alexander family are yet in possession of the Livingston 
family. Among the number may be mentioned a celebrated punch 
bowl, now in tlie possession of Mrs. Edward H. Ludlow, New 
York. 



290 



JHf.. 'ir^tfk'^rn. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



WILLIAM LIVINGSTON, GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY. 

William Livingston was the son of Philip Livingston, and 
brother of Robert and Philip. He was born at Albany, in Novem- 
ber, 1723. In the year 1737, before he had terminated his four- 
teenth year, he left Albany and was entered as a freshman at Yale 
College, Connecticut. In 1741 he graduated at the head of his 
class, and commenced the study of law in the city of New York, 
at the office of Mr. James Alexander, a Scotch gentleman, who 
emigi'ated to New York in the year 1715. 

There is in the possession of Mr. John Jay, of Bedford, West- 
chester County, N. Y., a small ill-painted likeness of young Wil- 
liam Livingston, which represents him in a cocked hat and feather, 
ruffles, and small clothes. William Livingston was remarkably 
well educated, and possessed many solid and brilliant attainments, 
in both law and literature. He married, in 1745, Susannah French, 
of New Brunswick, a gi-anddaughter of Philip French, an English 
gentleman. 

Mr. French at one time owned a tract of land in New Jersey, 

comprising what is now New Bnmswick. On her mother's side 

Miss French was granddaughter of Anthony Brockhold, who was 
37 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 291 

Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of New York, under Andross, 
and afterwards its Governor. 

Mr. Philip French, of England, married a daughter of Frederick 
Philii3se, or, as formerly written, Flypsen, who was a Protestant 
Refugee, from Bohemia, where his father had lost his life. Phil- 
ipse's other children were Eva, (who married Jacobus Van Cort- 
landt,) and became the mother of Mai'y Van Cortlandt, wife of 
Peter Jay, and mother of the Honorable John Jay, and had also 
two sons, Frederick and Adolphus. There was a grandson also 
of the name of Frederick, who joined the Tories in the Revolution ; 
he was the inheritor of the Philipsburg Manor, upon the Hudson 
River ; his estate was confiscated. 

Governor Livingston's political principles were decidedly Re- 
publican, and he declined to give to his country home at Elizabeth, 
town any name more aristocratic than "Liberty Hall ;" which 
house is still standing and is the property of Mr. John Kean. It 
is a fine mansion of the olden time, overshadowed by trees and 
nearly shut out of sight from the public road by shrubbery. It 
stands upon the left of the Springfield turnpike, beyond the Eliza- 
beth river, and about three quarters of a mile north of the railway 
station in the village. 

William Livingston was a man of marked ability, decided in his 
views, fearless in their expression and execution, a writer of much 
force, oftentimes exhibiting great powers of satire. His family 
was large. He lost several sons in childhood, and had five 
daughters, viz : Susan, who married John Clere Symmes ; Kitty, 
who married Matthew Ridley, of Baltimore ; Judith, who married 
John W. Watkins ; Sarah Van Burgh, born in August, 1757, and 
who married the Honorable John Jay, whom Mrs. Ellet writes of 
as follows : 

"Sarah, the foui'th daughter, inherited some of his finest traits, 
intellectual and moral, which were developed by a veiy careful 
education, which, with the father's stern patriotism and resolution. 



292 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

slie bleuclcd features of gentleness, grace and beauty peculiarly her 
own. The delicate sensibility occasionally exhibited in her let- 
ters seems to have come from her mother." 

The fifth daughter, Mary, married Mr. James Linn. In the 
autumn of 1770 the principal lawyers of the city of New York 
formed, or organized themselves, into a law club called "The 
Moot," for the purpose of holding meetings, at certain specified 
times, to discuss legal questions. At the first meeting of this 
club, on the 23d day of November, 1770, William Livingston Avas 
elected President, and William Smith, Vice-President. This 
probably afibrds a very correct indication of the standing of these 
gentlemen at the bar. This club held its meetings usually about 
once a month, and from the high character and standing of its 
members their decisions were regarded with much respect, and it 
has been stated that they materially influenced the judgment of 
the Supreme Court. A question about that time which had arisen 
connected with the taxation of costs was sent down to "The Moot," 
by the Chief Justice for the express purpose of obtaining their 
opinion upon the same. 

Mr. Livingston, according to club rules, retained his position as 
President of the club until the following November, when he was 
succeeded in the ofiice by Samuel Jones. As some of the mem- 
bers of this club were afterwards numbered among the most promi- 
nent and distinguished men of the country, a fcAV additional 
particulars will not be out of place, and may be of interest to many. 

The club had the following strict and established By-LaAvs or 
Rules : 

" The Establishment and Rules of the Cluh called the 3Ioot. 

"The undersigned, subscribers, desirous of forming a Club for 
social conversation, and the mutual improvement of each other, 
have determined to meet on the evening of the first Friday of 
every month at Barden's, or such other place as a majority of the 
members shall from time to time appoint, and for the better regu- 
lating the said Club do agree, 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 293 

"That the said dub shall be called the Moot. No member shall 
presume, upon any pretence, to introduce any discourse about the 
party politics of the province, and to persist in such discourse 
after being desired by the President to drop it, on pain of expulsion. 

The Constitution is signed by 

Benjamin Kissam, ' Thomas Smith, 

William Livingston, John Morine Scott, 

Robert R. Livingston, Jk. Peter Van Sciiaack, 

David Matthews, Whitehead Hicks, 

William Smith, James Ddane, 

John T. Kp:ivrPE, Egbert Benson, 

William Wickham, Rudolphus Ritzema, 

Richard Morris, John Jay, 

Samuel Jones, Stephen DeLancey. 

On March 4th, 1774, John Watts, Jr., and Gouverneur Monis 
were admitted to the Society, The last or final meeting took 
place 6th January, 1775. The following are some of the numer- 
ous offices and dates of the time when filled by Governor Livings- 
ton, and of works written and edited by him. 

In 1759 he was elected the second time to the Assembly of New 
York from the district of his brother's Manor. 

He moved to Elizabethport, New Jersey, in 1772, and was 
elected to Congress from New Jersey in 1774, and again returned 
to Congress in 1775, and again in 1776. 

In June, 1776, he took the command of the militia at Elizabeth- 
town, and was appointed Brigadier-General. 

He was elected Governor of New Jersey in August, 1776, and 
was elected and filled that office for fourteen years from 1776 until 
1790. 

He was also a delegate in 1789 to the Convention that formed 
the Federal Constitution. 

Governor Livingston was greatly beloved by the people for his 
virtues and republican principles, which Avas sufficient reason for 
their electing him so many years in succession to the Governor's 
chair. He wrote or edited the following works : 

"The Art of Pleasing." 



294 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

"Philosophic Solitude, 1747." 

"The Independent Reflector, 1752-53." 

"The Watch Tower, 1754-55." 

"Digest of N. Y. Laws, 1752-62." 

"Review of Military Operations, &c., 175G." 

"Eulogium on Rev. Aaron Burr, 1757." 

"Essays under the title of the Sentinel, 17G5." 

"Letter to Bishop of LlanduflT, 1767." 

"The American Whig, 1768-69." 

"Lieut. Governor Colden's Soliloquy, 1770." 

"Essays under the title of the Primitive Whig, in the New 
Jersey Gazette, under the signature of Ilortentieus Scipio, 
1777-86." 

"Essays in the American Museum, 1788-90." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 295 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

GOVERNOR Livingston's family, sketches and letters. 

One of Governor Livingston's daugliters writes a letter to a 
friend, dated 29th November, 1777 ; the following extracts from 
it are valuable,- as they convey some slight idea of the great sacri- 
fices made by the leading Whigs, in the days of the Revolution : 

"K has been to Elizabethtown ; found our house in a 



most ruinous situation. General Dickenson had stationed a Cap- 
tain with his artillery company in it, and after that it was kept for 
a bullock's guard. K waited on the General, and he order- 
ed the troops removed the next day ; but then the mischief was 
done. Eveiy thing is carried oflF that mama had collected for her 
accommodation, so that it is impossible for her to go down to 
have the grapes and other things secured ; the very hinges, locks 
and panes of glass are taken away." 

At this period, 1777, whilst Governor Livingston's family were 
residing at Percepany, he had retm'ned upon a day's visit, which 
was discovered by the enemy and an attempt was made to capture 
him, probably with the view of taking his life. This incident was 
mentioned in the Galloway tracts of 1777. 



29G CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

The house was surrounded in the night by a party of Refugees, 
who thought it safest to wait until daylight to secure their prey ; 
biit the Governor's habits of early rising saved him from becoming 
a prisoner. His enemies overslept themselves, and when the sun 
awoke them Governor Livingston was far away out of danger, en 
route to a neighbouring village. 

To this period also belongs another incident which is so strong- 
ly illustrative of the character of many agents of the Revolutionary 
era, that we have to allow it space. 

Some lady friends of Governor Livingston's daughters, residing 
in New York, then under military rule, wrote to them to use their 
influence with their father to obtain for them leave to pass a short 
time with Governor Livingston's family in New Jersey. Miss 
Livingston, well knowing her father's strict rules on this subject, 
and aware of his inflexibility to all such applications, addressed a 
letter herself to Alexander Hamilton, then an Aid-de-Camp to 
General Washington, with a request that he would be so kind as to 
endeavour to procure the much desired permission from the Com- 
mander-in-Chief To this letter Hamilton returned the following 
answer : 

"To Miss Livingston : — 1 can hardly forgive an application to 
my humanity to induce me to exert my influence in an afliiir in 
which ladies are concerned, and especially wlien you are of the 
party. Had you appealed to my friendship, or to my gallantry, 
it would have been irresistible. I should have thought myself 
bound to have set prudence and policy at defiance, and even to 
have attacked Avind mills in your ladyship's service. I am not 
sure but my imagination would have gone so far as to have fancied 
New York an enchanted castle, the three ladies, so many fair dam- 
sels, ravished from their friends and held in captivity by the spells 
of some wicked magician. General Clinton, a huge giant, placed 
as keeper of the gates, and myself a valorous knight destined to 
be their champion and deliverer. But when, instead of availing 
yourself of so much better titles, you appealed to the cold general 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 297 

principle of Inimanity, I confess I felt myself mortified, and deter- 
mined by way of revenge to mortify you in turn ; I resolved to 
show you that all the eloquence of your fine pen could not tempt 
Tories to do wrong, and avoiding any representation of my own, 
I put your letter into his hands and let it speak for itself I knew, 
indeed, this would expose his resolution to a severer trial than it 
could experience in any other way, and I was not without my 
fears for the event ; but if it should be decided against you, I anti- 
cipated the triumph of letting you see your influence had fixiled. 

"I congratulate myself on the success of my scheme, for though 
there was a harder struggle upon the occasion between inclination 
and duty than it would be for his honor to tell, yet he at last had 
the courage to determine that, as he could not indulge the ladies 
with consistency and propriety, he would not run the risk of being 
charged with a breach of both. This he desired me to tell you, 
though to be sure it Avas done in a diflferent manner, interlarded 
with many assurances of his great desire to oblige you, and of his 
regret that he could not do it in the present case, with a deal 
of stuflf of the same kind which I have too good an opinion of 
your understanding to repeat. I shall therefore only tell you that 
whether the Governor and the General are more honest or more 
perverse than other peo2:>le, they have a very odd knack of think- 
ing alike, and it happens in the present case that they both equally 
disapprove the intercourse you mention, and have taken pains to 
discourage it. I shall leave you to make your own reflections 
upon this, with only one more observation, which is that the ladies 
for whom you apply would have every claim to be gratified, were 
it not that it would operate as a bad precedent. But before I con 
elude, it will be necessary to explain one point. This refusal sup- 
poses that the ladies mean only to make a visit and return to New 
York. If it should be their intention to remain with us, the case 
will be altered. There will be no rule against their coming out, 
and they will be an acquisition. But this is subject to two 
provisos : 
38 



298 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

"First — That they arc not found guilty of treason or any misde- 
meanor punishable by the laAvs of the State, in which case the 
General can have no power to protect them ; and — 

"Secondly — That the ladies on our side do not apprehend any 
inconvenience from increasing. 

"Trifling apart, there is nothing could give me greater pleasure, 
than to have been able to serve Miss Livingston and her friends 
on this occasion, but circumstances really did not permit it. I am 
persuaded she has too just an opinion of the General's politeness, 
not to be convinced that he Avould be happy to do anything which 
his public character would justify in an affair so interesting to the 
tender feelings of so many ladies. Tlie delicacy of her own ideas 
will easily comprehend the delicacy of his situation. She knows 
the esteem of her friend. "A. HAMILTON." 

"The General and Mrs. Washington present their compliments. 

"Headquakters, March IStli, 1779.' 

We will next give a letter of Governor Livingston, written to 
his daughter, Catharine, then in Philadelphia : 

"To Miss Catharine Livingston, Philadelphia. 

"Rauitan, 9tli August, 1779. 
"Dear Caty : — The complaisance Avith which we treat the 
British prisoners, considering how they treat us when in captivity, 
of which you justly complain, is what the Congress can never 
answer to their constituents, however palliated with the specious 
name of humanity. It is thus that we shall at last be humanized 
out of om' liberties. Their country, their honor, the spirits of 
those myriads avIio have fallen a sacrifice to the severity of their 
treatment by the enemy, and their own solemn oath, call upon that 
august body to retaliate without further procrastination. I knon' 
there are a number of flirts in Philadeli)hia equally famed for their 
want of modesty, as want of patriotism, Avho will triumpli in our 
over complaisance to the Red Coat prisoners lately arrived in that 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 299 

metropolis. I hope none of my connexions will imitate them, 

either in the dress of their heads or the still more tory feelings of 

their hearts. 

"I am your affectionate fathei', 

"WILLIAM LIVINGSTON." 

On the 27th of November, 1776, Governor Livingston wrote as 
follows to General Washington, showing that whilst many mis- 
judged him, he truly appreciated our great chieftain in his most 
trying ordeal : 

"I can easily form some idea of the difficulties under which you 
labor, particularly of one for which the public can make no allow- 
ance, because your prudence and fidelity to the cause will not suf- 
fer you to reveal it to the public ; an instance of magnanimity, 
sui)erior perhaps to any that can be shown in battle. But depend 
upon it, my dear sir, the impartial world will do you ample justice 
before long. May God support you under that fatigue, both of 
body and mind, to which you must be constantly exposed." 

On November 16th, 1779, Governor Livingston penned the fol- 
lowing letter, also addressed to his daughter Catharine : 

"Mount Holly, 16th November, 1779. 
"Dear Catharine : — As we have not yet heard of the safe 
arrival of our friends on board of the Confederacy in the port of 
New York, I hope they have got such an offing as to be out of 
the track of the copper-bottoms. I am obliged to Mr. Morris for 
his promise of giving me the earliest intelligence of their arrival 
in France. I hope his business with the four quarters of the globe 
will not efface it from his memory. I have already suffered more 
anxiety on their account* than I should have imagined I could be 
affected by on any account. The tenderness of a parent's heart can 
never be known till it is tried. The death of Mr. Ileivcs is a 
public loss. He was an honest man, a greater scarcity in these 
times than even Hyson or double Refined. The enemy are col- 

'Tlie persons for wliom anxiety is expressed in Governor Livingston's letter were Mr. 
and Mrs. John Jay. « 



300 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

lectecl in great force on Staten Island, and if iliey don't burn my 
house I shall think them still greater rascals than ever ; as I have 
really endeavored to deserve that last and most luminous testi- 
mony of their inveterate malice. They ought never to forget a 
man for being ftiithful to his trust. But we are at present in such 
a situation that they cannot travel for into New Jersey, nor stay 
twenty-four hours in it, without exposing themselves to a severe 
drubbing. I am, &c., 

"WILLIAM LIVINGSTON." 

The anecdote of Miss Susan Livingston preserving her father's, 
the Governor's, papers Avhen the house was entered by a party of 
British from New York, on the 28th of February, 1779, is well 
related by a friend of Miss Livingston's, who heard it from her 
own lips, after the war had ended. "Governor Livingston, inform- 
ed of the approaching invasion, left home at an early hour to 
escape capture, having confided his valuable papers to the care of 
his daughter. She had them placed in a carriage box, (box of a 
sulky,) and taken to a room in the upper story of the house. 
When the enemy were advancing Miss Livingston stepped from 
the Avindow of the apartment upon the roof of the i)iazza to look 
at the lied Coats. A horseman in front of the detachment rode 
hastily up and begged that she would retire, for there was danger 
of some of his soldiers from a distance mistaking her for a man 
and firing upon her. The young lady attempted to climb in at 
the window, but found it impracticable, though it had been easy 
enough to get out. The horseman seeing her difficulty instantly 
sprang from his horse, Avent into the house and up staii's into the 
chamber, and leaping out upon the roof lifted Miss Livingston 
through the windoAV. She asked to Avhom was she indebted for 
the courtesy ; the reply Avas 'Lord Cathcart.' She then, Avith admir- 
able presence of mind, appealed to him, as a gentleman, for the 
protection of the box, which she said contained lier priA'ate 
property ; i)romising if that could be secui'ed to ojjcn her lather's 
library to the soldiers, A guard Avas ac^rdingly placed over the 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 301 

box wliile the libraiy was ransacked, and the men filled their fora- 
ging bags with worthless law papers and then quitted the house. 
The box thus saved contained the Governor's correspondence with 
Congress, the Commander-in-Chief and State Officers." 

In one of Governor Livingston's letters to the Earl of Stirling, 
he says he has intrusted to his daughter Catharine his despatches 
to his correspondents in Spain. 

General Washington's complimentary note to this lady was first 
published in Mrs. Ellet's Women of the Kevolution. On the 28th 
of April, 1774, Governor Livingston's daughter Sarah, then in the 
eighteenth year of her age, Avas married at Elizabethtown, New 
Jersey, to the Hon. John Jay, then a young lawyer in his twenty- 
ninth year. He Avas of a Huguenot family, which, by intermar- 
riage with the Bayards and Van Cortlandts, had become connected 
with the most prominent families of the province. 

Miss Kitty Livingston wrote to her sister, Mrs. John Jay, at 

Madrid :* 

"May 23d, 1780. 

"Lady Mary and Mrs. Watts have rented Mrs. Montgomery's 

farm for two years ; cousin Nancy Brown is one of their family. 

Colonel Lewis has pm'chased a house in Albany ; one of the girls 

live there with Gittey. He and Robert have each presented 

Cousin Livingston with a granddaughter. The Chancellor's is a 

remarkably fine child. Mrs. Livingston never looked so well as 

she did the last winter, and was so much admired in Philadelphia. 

She and Mrs. Morris were inseparable ; she was also a first favorite 

of Mr. Morris. His esteem I think very flattering. Robert is in 

Congress, and.I believe is at present there ; she is to accompany 

him in the fall. General and Mrs. Schuyler are at Moi'ristown. 

The General is one of the three that compose a Committee from 

Congress ; they expect to be with the army all . summer. Mrs. 

Schuyler returns to Albany when the campaign opens. Apropos : 

Betsey Schuyler is engaged to our friend, Colonel Hamilton. She 

'From Mrs. IJllet's Qaeen of Society. 



302 CLERMONT, Oil LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

has boon at Mornstown, at Dr. Cochrane's, since last February. 
Morristown continues to bo very lively. Tlie fate of Charlestowu 
still depending, and Mrs. 1*. is said to be making a match with her 
daughter and her husband's brother. She has absolutely refused 
to let her go to her relations, and to let her choose a guardian. 
Colonel Burr and she are not on speaking terms." 

Mrs. Morris wrote from New Jersey to Mrs. Jolni Jay, dated 
September Gtli, 1780 : 

"Yesterday we were informed from camp of the death of your 
cousin, William Alexander Livingston, who received his death 
from a Mr. Steaks, in a duel ; also was buried at the same time, in 
like circumstances, a Mr. Peyton, from Virginia. You may judge 
how fashionable dueling is grown when we have had five in one 
week, and one of them so singular that I cannot forbear mention- 
ing it. It happened between two Frenchmen, who Avere to stand 
at a certain distance and, marching up, were to lire when they 
pleased. One fired and missed, the other reserving his till he had 
placed his pistol on his antagonist's forehead, who had just time to 
say, Ah Jlon Dleu i')ardonnez moi f at the same time bowing 
whilst the pistol went oiF, and did no other mischief than singing 
a few of his hairs." 

In October, 1786, Miss Susan LiNingstou wrote from Ilhincbeck 
to her sister, Mrs. John Jay. The latter part of her letter Avas as 
folloAVS : 

"I ought to conclude, and beware the third page, as they say a 
woman can't Avrite more than two pages Avithoiit scandal. You 
must be more or less than Avoman for you have AAaitten thirteen 
pages withoiTt scandal. Witness your letter that A\;e call 'the con- 
federacy.' We are in such high spirits about our public afijiirs 
that I must tell you a little about it." The letter then gives the 
account of a fine naval victory, and exi)resses hopes of soon hear- 
ing of Lord CoruAvall's surrender. 

A repartee, made by one of Lord Dorchoslor's aids to Miss 
Susan Livingston has been celebrated. 



^ 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. , 303 

"When the British were evacuating New York she expressed a 
Avish, to him, that their departure might be liastened, 'for among 
your incarcerated belles the scarlet fever must rage until you are 
gone.' Major Upham, the aid, replied that he feared 'if freed from 
the prevailing malady they would be tormented by a worse, the 
blue devils !' " 

Catharine Livingston, Governor Livingston's second daughter, 
married Matthew Ridley, of Baltimore. He was at Nantes in 
1778, in the American Commission business. 

The following copy of an order sent to Nantes rather curiously 
shows the precariousness of transi^ortation in those days. It is 
extracted from a Mss. letter of John Jay, dated Madrid, January 
21st, 1782, which letter expresses a hope that one of tlie parcels 
niay meet its destination : 

"Be pleased to send for Miss Kitty W. Livingston, to the care 
of Hon. R. Morris, Esq., at Philadelphia, liy the first three good 
vessels bound there, the three following parcels, viz : 

"No. 1 to contain 2 white embroidered patterns for Slices ; 4 
pair of silk stockings ; a pattern for a Negligee of light colored 
silk, with a set of ribbons suitable to it ; G pair of kid gloves ; G 
yards of cat-gut, and capuire in proportion ; G yards of white silk 
gauze." 

"No. 2 to contain the same as above, except that tlie silk for the 
Negligee must not be pink colored, but of any color that Mrs. John- 
son may think fashionable and pretty. The shoes and ril)l)ons 
may be adapted to it." 

"No. 3 to contain the same as above, except that the silk for the 
Negligee must be of a different color fi'om the other two, and the 
shoes and ribljons of a proper color to be worn with it." 

Miss Kitty Livingston took a deep interest in public affiiirs. 
Her friend. Lady Catharine Alexander, writes from Valley Forge 
after the good and cheering news of the Alliance with France : 



304 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

"We liave nothing liere but rejoicings ; every one looks happy 
and seems proud of tlie share he has had in humbling the pride of 
Britain, and of establishing the name of America as a Nation." 

She also received the following letter from General Wasliington, 
addressed to her from the same place : 

"General Washington having been informed lately of the honor 
done him by Miss Kitty Livingston in wishing for a lock of his 
hair, takes the liberty of inclosing one, accompanied by his most 
respectful compliments. 

"Camp Valley Forge, 18th March, 1778." 

Susannah, the Avife of Governor Livingston, was a woman of 
simple, unpretending manners, but endowed with a strong intel- 
lect and a warm and tender heart. The letters of her husband 
show his high respect as well as love for her. When the British 
troops made their memorable incursion into New Jersey, by Eliza- 
bethtown, the Governor being absent from his family, suffered 
intense anxiety on their account, but while the neighboring 
villages Avere seen in flames the enemy respected "Liberty Hall," 
and treated its inmates Avith courtesy. A correspondent of "Riv- 
ington's Gazette" accounts for this by saying that one of the British 
officers received a rose from Susan Livingston on his visit to the 
house as a memento of a promise of protection. 

An anecdote connected with this invasion has been traditionally 
preserA'ed, Avhich, if proved authentic, Avould furnish curious evi- 
dence as to the agency concerned in the murder of ]Mrs. Caldwell. 

After a day of alarm the flames of Springfield and Connecticut 
farms being in vicAV, and soldiers continually passing the house, 
Mrs. Livingston and her daughters Avere at a late hour surprised 
by the entrance of several British officers Avho announced their 
intention of lodging there. Their presence Avas felt to be a pro- 
tection and the ladies retired. About midnight the officers left 
the house, called aAvay by some startling ncAVS, and not long after- 
Avards a band of straggling soldiers, intoxicated, rushed Avith oaths 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 305 

and threats into the hall. The maid servant, (as all the males of 
the establishment had taken refuge in the woods, early in the 
day, to avoid being made prisoners,) fastened herself in the kitchen, 
and tlie ladies crowding together like frightened deer locked them- 
selves in another apartment. Their place of retreat was soon 
discovered by the ruffians, and afraid to exasperate them by refus- 
ing to come out, one of Governor Livingston's daughters opened 
the door ; a drunken soldier seized her arm ; she grasped the vil- 
lain's collar, and at the very moment a flash of lightning illumin- 
ed the hall and, falling full upon her white dress, he staggered 
back, exclaiming with an oath, "Its Mrs. Caldwell that we killed 
to-day." One of the party was at length recognized and tlie house 
by his intervention finally cleared of the assailants. 

The influence Mrs. Livingston had with her husband was very 
great, this influence was secured by her good sense, her sympathy 
and her unselfish tenderness. She shared his thoughts in time of 
war, and his joy when allowed to relinquish his wandering life 
and return to his home ; to enter once more his deserted library, 
and superintend his long neglected garden. In his simple and 
rural occupation she was his constant and faithful companion, and 
his letters evince the warm afiection he cherished for her through 
years of absence and absorbing occupation. She died on the 17th 
of July, 1789. She had been an invalid for some time, and in 
1786 went to Lebanon, N. Y., hoping to derive some benefit from 
its waters, which were even then crowded by believers in their 
virtue. 

A few years before this, in 1786, Mr. Livingston wrote a letter 
to his wife from Trenton, in answer to one from her in which she 
had reproached him for not oftener writing. It shows with what 
tender solicitude he watched over her health, and how little the 
first warmth of his affection was abated by years of absence : 

"Trenton, 4th March, 1786. 

"My Dear, Dear Susan : — Considering that for near a fortnight 

after I arrived I was so indisposed as scarcely to be able to bold a 
39 



I 



306 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

pen in my liand, unci that notwithstanding my indisposition, I 
wrote you two letters before I received yours of the 27tli of 
February, which came to my hands this day, and that during all 
that time I was every day anxious in inquiring after your health 
from evei7body that came from our part of the country, you 
have greatly distressed me by ascribing my silence to my want of 
affection for you. If I was to live to the age of Methusalim I 
believe I should not forget a certain flower that I once saw in a 
certain garden, and however that flower may have since faded 
towards the evening of that day, I shall always remember how it 
bloomed in the morning, nor shall I ever love it less for that decay 
which the most beautiful and fragrant flowers are subject to in the 
course of nature. 

"I repeat it, that I love you most affectionately, and when I 
return I will by my attentions and assiduities give you the greatest 
demonstrations possible of the sincerity of this, my declaration. 
After this I hope you Avill not so far forget your friend and lover 
as not to acquaint him, as often as you conveniently can, of the 
state of your health, which I still hope aTid jn-ay may be perfectly 
restored." 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 307 



CHAPTER XLV. 

INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES OF GOV. EIVINGSTON, CONTINUED. 

Ill the year 1781, Governor Livingston wrote to his][brother, 
Robert Livingston, as follows : 

"Trenton, 17tli December, 1781. 
"Dear Brother : — I hear that your very numerous family is 
going to be iucreased^by the addition of one of mine. I fear Susan 
will be troublesome to a house so overrun with company as yours. 
But my poor girls are so terrified at the frequent incursions of the 
refugees into Elizabethtown, that it is a kind of cruelty to insist 
on their keeping at home, especially as their mother chooses, 
rather to submit to her present solitary life than to expose them 
to such disagreeable apprehensions. But she herself will keep her 
ground to save the place from being ruined, and I must quit it to 
save my body from the Provost in New York, so that we are all 
scattered about the country. But by the blessing of God, and the 
instrumentality of General Washington and Robert Morris, I hope 
we shall drive the devils to old England before next June. The 
naval operations of the United Provinces, (by a letter lately receiv- 
ed from a noble correspondent,) appear still gi'eatly retarded by 
the faction of the Prince of Orange. If the patriotic party cannot 



308 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

give his serene highness a Dutch for an English heart, I hope that 
rather than suffer themselves to be outwitted by him he may be 
De-witted by them. 

"Cornwallis' party in New York is open-mouthed against Clin- 
ton, and tlu'ows all the blame of his lordship's capture on Sir 
Harry. The latter justifies himself by the impracticability of 
affording succour after the arrival of^the French fleet. Whether 
either of them is to be blamed for this disaster I know not, but I 
know somebody on whom they may safely throw it, and who is 
very willing to bear it, — General Washington. I should be very 
sorry to have Clinton recalled through any national resentment 
against him, because as fertile as that country is in the production 
of blockheads I think they cannot easily send us a greater blunder- 
buss, unless peradventure it should please his Majesty himself to 
do us the honor of a visit. I am, &c., 

''WILLIAM LIVINGSTON." 

In another letter, dated 3d March, 1787, to a friend, Governor 
Livingston writes : 

"My principal Secretary of State, who is one of my daughters, 
is gone to New York to shake her heels at the balls and assem- 
blies of a metropolis, which might as Avell be more studious of pay- 
ing its taxes than of instituting expensive diversions. 

"I mention this absence of my Secretary to atone for the sloven- 
ly liandAvi'iting of this letter and of my enclosed certificate, because 
she is as celebrated for writing a good hand as her father is notori- 
ous for scribbling a bad one. I am, &c., 

"WILLIAM LIVINGSTON." 

Governor Livingston's handwriting, as he states in the above 
letter, was intolerably bad. His early letter books were written 
with a plain clerkly hand, but he degenerated by degi*ees so very 
much in this respect that General Washington often used to say 
that when he received a letter from Governor Livingston he called 
around him all his staff to assist him in deciphering it. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 309 

Governor Livingston was very fond of trying his hand at 
carpenter work ; he had a lathe and a full set of joiners' tools, 
which supplied him in dull rainy weather Avith healthful exercise 
within doors, and he took much pride in the skill with Avhich he 
could use the tools to make various useful and ornamental articles. 

He said to his daughter one day : "Come with me, my dear, 
and see how many houses I own, or how rich I am in real estate." 
She followed, as he led the way into his oiRce, study and work- 
shop, and there found to her surprise the table entirely covered 
with a great quantity of wren houses of his own manufacture, and 
which he afterAvards put up all around the house, over the piazzas, 
upon trees, &c., as trophies of his ingenuity. This, together with 
the cultivation of his garden, in which he worked much himself, 
and took great pride in raising the first and finest vegetables at 
that time known, as well as fishing, occupied pretty well all his 
leisure hom's. 

Had it not been for his domestic trouble, and his own increasing 
infirmities, the last years of his life would probably have been the 
most happy. 

In writing to M, de Marbois, of Paris, under date of 26th Sep- 
tember, 1783, he says : 

"Thanks to Heaven that the times again permit me to pursue 
my favorite amusement of raising vegetables, which, with the 
additional pleasure resulting from my library, I really prefer to all 
the bustle and sjilendor of the world." * * * * * 

In speaking of his children he says : "I have had to the num- 
ber of these United States ;" which was at that time 13 States, now 
thirty-seven. Six of his children died during his life time. 

Governor Livingston was in stature above the middle height, 
and so remarkably thin in early life as to receive from some female 
wits of New York, perhaps in allusion to his satmcal dispositiun, 
the nickname of the "Whipping Post." 

In later years he acquired a more dignified corpulency. 



310 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

Speaking of himself, in the language of one of his opponents in 
the "American Whig" of 1768, he says : "The Whig is a long- 
nosed, long-chinncd, iigly looking fellow." 

Governor Livingston abounded with wit and fun, and had a play- 
ful temper Avith children, of Avhom he was extremely fond, and 
took great delight and interest in all their sports and amusements, 
making all their pleasures his own. In a letter written to his son- 
in law, Mr. Ilidley, the 10th of March, 1788, he writes what great 
])lcasure a visit from his children and grand-children would give 

him : "Suppose in reality that you and , , , 

, and Mr. and Mrs. Jay, and , should come 

to Liberty Hall next cherry time ; why then ; with my romping 
Avith some iipon the jiiazza, and shooting robbins with others out 
of the mazzard trees, and talking and Avalking Avith the elder boys 
and girls, and their fathers and mothers around the table, I per- 
test, as some ladies say, that I would not exchange such a s cene 
of happiness for any gratification of the Grand Seignoir." 

Not often at the age of sixty -five years do Ave find the fresh, 
flexible sympathies Avith all the pastimes and amusements of 
childhood and youth. 

Lossing, in his Field Book, states : "That William Livingston, 
afterAvard the GoA^ernor of Ncav Jersey, seems to have been one of 
the most eminent Avriters against Episcopacy, and Dr. Chandler, 
and Samuel Seabury, (afterwards Bisho]^,) Avere among its chief 
supporters. 

"An anonymous Avriter, Avhose alias Avas Timothy Tickle, Esq., 
Avrote a series of poAverful articles in favor of Episcopacy, in Hugh 
Gaines' "Ncav York Mercury," in 1708, supposed by some to be 
Dr. Auchmuty, of Trinity Cluirch. 

"The Synod of Connecticut passed a vote of thanks to Living- 
ston for his Essays, Avhile in Gaines' paper. lie was lampooned by a 
shrcAvd Avriter in a poem of nearly two hundred lines. Livingston 
AVi'ote anonymously, and the ])oet thus refers to the author ; 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 311 

"Some think him Tindall, some think him Chnbb, 
Some think him a Ranter that spouts from his tub, 
Some think him a Newton, some think him a Locke, 
Some think him a Stone, some tliink him a Stock, 
But a Stock he at least may thank Natm-e for givino-, 
And if he's a Stone, I pronounce it a Living." 

"Episcopacy was introduced into America, took root and flour- 
ished, and when the revolution broke out, some seven or eight 
years afterwards, there were many of its adherents found on the 
side of liberty, though generally so intimate Avas its relations 
through the mother clmrcli, to the throne, its loyalty became a sub- 
ject of reproach and suspicion, for the Episcopal clergy, as a body, 
were active or passive loyalists." 

Governor Livingston's grief on the loss of his wife was great, 
as it was a severe shock to him and to his children. 

All the family letters show that his grief at this final separation 
from her who had shared in all the anxieties of a long and toil- 
some life, continued unabated, and that it accelerated the progress 
of his own disease. For the year following her death his spirits 
flagged, and a marked difference was perceptible in his temper. 
He appeared more chastened and subdued ; what the changes of 
fifty years had not affected, heartfelt »orrow at one fell stroke 
accomplished, and he hardly on any subsequent occasion manifest- 
ed that instability of temper which was previously a part and 
parcel of his former self or character. 

On the 12th day of June, 1790, after Governor Livingston had 
1-e turned from Amboy to Elizabethtown, he complained of an op- 
pression on his breast, which soon afterwards proved to be the 
dropsy, and was attended with a severe cough. Doctor Bard, of 
Kew York, was called in. Medical aid and medicine, however, 
only served to prolong his sufferings a few days. 

His disorder, writes Sedgwick : "was of a peculiarly harassing 
character, but he bore it with a patience which the excitability of 
his temper would not have given reason to expect 



812 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

"That religion, which, when invoked truly, is never invoked in 
vain, sent down her messengers of peace to calm these trying mo- 
ments. 

"The following extracts from letters written about this time, 
with the greatest facilities of observation, will convey the best 
idea of the closing portion of his life. The more I reflect on the 
patience and fortitude with which he supported his last illness, the 
more I am astonished at it. He never uttered a complaining 
word ; the most he ever said was : 'I can't hold it long, if I do 
not get relief I have often reflected on a line written in early 
life : 'For I who know to live, would never fear to die.' 

"When they Avould tell him how much better he looked, 'a 
strange misunderstanding between the looks and feelings,' he would 
say : He often said, 'God's will be done,' and would tell me I had 
done all I could, I must leave the event to Providence. lie sup- 
ported his illness with uncommon patience and resignation. 

"The last day of his life I asked him if he was in much pain ; 
he answered 'no, none at all.' Whenever we asked how he felt, 
the answer was, 'weak, very weak.' The cough left him a consid- 
erable time before his death, after which he could lie in bed, and 
that was a great relief ; before that period he sat night and day in 
an easy chair." This painful scene was at length closed, for on 
Sunday, the 25th day of July, 1790, this statesman, patriot and 
christian breathed his last. He was interred by the side of the 
remains of his wife, at Elizabethtown. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 313 



CONCLUSION. 

With this last sketch of Governor William Livingston we close 
the work. My task is done, and I now throw down my pen, with 
what success or failure it must be left for the reader to judge. It 
has been a work of pleasure, and has beguiled many an hour of 
two long and tedious winters. 

Of the family circle and their connections, herein chronicled, 
we find distinguished men both in civil and military life. We 
read of the illustrious general, the statesman, the inventive gen- 
ius, the jurist, the foreign diplomatist, the intellectual citizen, 
and the true faithful christian, all exemplified in both public and 
private every day life. 

I have endeavored to make it a journal of facts, and by group- 
ing facts, interspersed with anecdote and letter, to give an insight 
into the home, as Avell as public life of our ancestors ; for a man 
cannot be great, in the true sense of the word, in public life, if he 
is not respected in his own home or neighborhood. Greatness 
has its birth in the heart and cultivates all christian virtues, and 
he who cannot control his own temper or passions cannot be called 
a great man, although he may be the conqueror of a kingdom. 

But we do not flatter the memories of the departed ones in this 
40 



314 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

biography, when we state that they were celebrated both in the 
public and private walks of life, and we can take them as exam- 
ples for us to follow, both as public men and as christians. 

The women of this distinguished family we must not pass by 
without a retrospective glance. We here find the patriotic 
mother, the brave daughter, the exemplary christian, and faith- 
ful wife. Most all were celebrated both for beauty and intellect- 
ual attainments, whom we may compare to "the polished corners 
of the temple." 

Who can read the life of Janet Livingston Montgomery without 
shedding tears. We behold her giving up her handsome, 
noble young husband as a sacrifice upon the altar of her country, 
Avithout a miirmur, and letting "her soldier" go forth never to return. 
It is sad to consider that all those brave hearts have passed away, 
and like, Xerxes when he wept at the thought on beholding his 
immense army, that in a brief century they would all be gone ; 
thus likewise we look back with sorrow that they are all number- 
ed with the ai'my of the dead. But although they have passed 
from earth, they have left us not only the records of their virtues 
and patriotism, but a country tliat they helped to free and sustain, 
and bequeathed to us as our inheritance. 

When we look back with a just pride at the retrospect of their 
lives and public honors, and then consider the responsibility that 
rests upon us to care for and preserve this glorious inheritance, 
this temple of freedom ; for their mantle, like that of the Prophet 
of old, has fallen upon our shoulders, and ungrateful indeed must 
he be who is unmindful of such a legacy. Their foot-prints the 
sands of time can never obliterate, but where are they now ?— 

"The infant a mother attended and loved ; 
The mother that infant's affection who proved ; 
The husband that mother and infant who blessed, 
Each, all are away to their dwellings of rest. 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 315 

For we are the same our fathers have been ; 
We see the same sights our fathers have seen ; 
We drink the same stream, and view the same sun, 
And nin the same course our fathers have run. 

The thoughts Ave are thinking our fathers would think, 
From the death we are shrinking our fathers would shrink, 
To the life we are clinging they also would cling ; 
But it speeds for us all like a bird on the wing. 

They loved, but the story we cannot unfold ; 
They scorned, but the heart of the haughty is cold 5 
They grieved, but no wail from their slumber will come ; 
They joyed, but the tongue of their gladness is dumb. 

They died, aye ! they died, we things that are now, 
That walk on the turf that lies over their brow. 
And make in their dwellings a transient abode ; 
Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road. 

'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath, 
From the blossom of health to the paleness of death. 
From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud. 
Oh ! Avhy should the spirit of mortal be proud." 



Tlie Livingstons as a family have done well for their country, 
as the past records show. It is to be hoped the descendants of 
those noble old patriots will do as much, and let it still be proved 
in every generation, as has been said by a young poet of Columbia : 

"How firm is the Arch of our Union, 
When built of the true Living-Stone." 



THE END. 



APPENDIX. 

Petition to the King, written by Judge Robert R. Livingston, 
(see page 30,) adopted October 22d, 1765. 

TO THE king's most exceixent majesty. 

The petition of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the colo- 
nies of Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plan- 
tations, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the government 
of the counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex, upon Delaware, 
and province of Maryland, 

MOST HUMBLY SHOWETII, 

That the inhabitants of these colonies, unanimously devoted 
with the warmest sentiments of duty and affection to your sacred 
l^erson and government, and inviolably attached to the present 
happy establishment of the Protestant succession in your illustri- 
ous house, and deeply sensible of your royal attention to their 
prosperity and happiness, humbly beg leave to approach the 
throne, by representing to yom- majesty, that these colonies were 
originally planted by subjects of the British crown, who, animated 
with the spirit of liberty, encouraged by your majesty's royal 
j)redecessors, and confiding in the public faith for the enjoyment 
of all the rights and liberties essential to freedom, emigrated from 
their native country to this continent, and, by then* successful 
perseverance, in the midst of innumerable dangers and difficulties, 
together with a profusion of their blood and treasure, have hap- 
pily added these vast and extensive dominions to the Empire of 
Great Britain. 

That, for the enjoyment of these rights and liberties, several 
governments were early formed in the said colonies, with full 
power of legislation, agreeably to the principles of the English 
constitution ; — that, under these governments, these liberties, thus 
vested in their ancestors, and transmitted to their posterity, have 



318 CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 

been exercised and enjoyed, and by the inestimable blessings 
thereof, under the favor of Almighty God, the inhospitable deserts 
of America have been converted into flourishing countries ; sci- 
ence, humanity, and the knowledge of divine truths diffused 
through remote regions of ignorance, infidelity, and barbarism ; 
the number of British subjects wonderfully increased, and the 
wealth and power of Great Britain proportionably augmented. 

That, by means of these settlements and the unparalleled success 
of your majesty's arms, a foundation is now laid for rendering the 
British empire the most extensive and powerful of any recorded in 
history ; our connexion with this empire we esteem our gi'eatest 
happiness and security, and humbly conceive it may now be so 
established by your royal wisdom, as to endure to the latest period 
of time ; this, with the most humble submission to your majesty, 
we apprehend will be most effectually accomplished by fixing the 
pillars thereof on liberty a d justice, and securing the inlierent 
rights and liberties of your subjects here, upon the principles of 
the English constitution. To this constitution, these two princi- 
ples are essential : the rights of your faithful subjects freely to 
grant to your majesty such aids as are required for the support of 
your government over them, and other public exigencies ; and 
trials by their peers. By the one they are secured from unreason- 
able impositions, and by the other from the arbitraiy decisions of 
the executive power. The continuation of these liberties to the 
inhabitants of America, we ardently implore, as absolutely neces ■ 
sary to unite the several parts of your wide-extended dominions, 
in that harmony so essential to the preservation and happiness of 
the whole. Protected in these liberties, the emoluments Great 
Britain receives from us, however great at present, are inconsider- 
able, compared with those she has the fairest prospect of acquiring. 
By this protection, she will for ever secure to herself the advanta-^ 
ges of conveying to all Europe, the merchandize which America 
furnishes, and for supplying, through the same channel, whatso^ 
ever is wanted from thence. Here opens a boundless source of 
wealth and naval strength. Yet these immense advantages, by 



CLERMONT, OR LIVINGSTON MANOR. 319 

the abridgment of those invahiable rights and liberties, by which 
our growth has been nourished, are in danger of being for ever 
lost, and our subordinate legislatures in effect rendered useless by 
the late acts of parliament imposing duties and taxes on these 
colonies, and extending the jurisdiction of the courts of admiralty 
here, beyond its ancient limits ; statutes by which your majesty's 
commons in Britain undertake absolutely to dispose of the property 
of their fellow-subjects in America without then- consent, and for 
the enforcing whereof, they are subjected to the determination of 
a single judge, in a court unrestrained by the wise rulers of the 
common law, the birthright of Englishmen, and the safeguard of 
then* persons and properties. 

The invaluable rights of taxing ourselves and trial by our peers, 
of which we implore your majesty's protection, are not, we most 
humbly conceive, unconstitutional, but confirmed by the Great 
Charter of English liberties. On the first of these rights the 
honorable house of commons found their practice of originatino- 
money, a right enjoyed by the kingdom of Ireland, by the clergy 
of England, until relinquished by themselves ; a right, in fine, 
which all other your majesty's English subjects, both Avithin and 
without the realm, have hitherto enjoyed. 

With hearts, therefore, impressed with the most indelible charac- 
ters of gratitude to your majesty, and to the memory of the kings 
of your illustrious house, whose reigns have been signally distin- 
guished by their auspicious influence on the prosperity of the 
British dominions ; and convinced by the most affecting proofs of 
your majesty's paternal love to all your people, however distant, 
and your unceasing and benevolent desires to promote their 
happiness ; Ave most humbly beseech your majesty that you will 
be graciously pleased to take into your royal consideration the dis- 
tresses of your faithful subjects on this continent, and to lay the 
same before your majesty's pai'liament, and to afford them such 
relief as, in your royal wisdom, their unhappy circumstances shall 
be judged to require. And your petitioners will pray, &c. 



^V^' 



Q^it.■^.Li.i>^^ 



|J '.I I/ Ai 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

|i|ii||| |1l|l||l!|ir!|||i!P II III 



014 222 340 5 



M;i'<.,i!ll;;;;i;^;':i:i.;,ii 















